I have strong opinions about vegetables. I have equally strong opinions about overly-verbose political writings. With that in mind I offer a concise list (with added optional endnotes) of my personal beliefs with regards to Jerusalem artichokes:
1. Jerusalem artichokes (hereafter abbreviated J.a. though they may also be referred to as “sunchokes”, “the Canadian truffle”, “topinambour”, “ground pear”, “Deep-rooted or hardy sun”, or “girasola” in Italian) should be eaten with your hands – like a perfectly ripe mango – by sucking the soft, cooked insides out instead of spending half a day peeling away the gnarly skin before cooking.*
2. J.a. and lemon are a good combination. They’re sweet, so by adding something sour like lemon you bring out the natural sweetness. If you don’t feel like juicing a lemon, suck on a slice between bites of Jerusalem artichoke. Follow rule #1 for both the J.a. and lemon-sucking.**
3. J.a. and nuts are also a good combination. Sure, you could add meat to J.a., and that’s all well and good, but to really appreciate them you want a lighter-flavoured fat, and that means nut oil or nuts themselves. Hazelnuts, almonds, macadamia nuts, walnuts, cashews, pecans, brazil nuts, pine nuts, even sunflower seeds.***
4. Cook J.a. until they burst. Some may argue that once J.a. have reached the exploding point they’re too far gone, but I say they’re perfect. Like a flower in bloom. The sweet, moist filling rushes out.****
5. In order of J.a. cooking preference: a) Roasted, b) boiled. That’s all. Anything else requires a lot more peeling and dicing, both of which are a waste of time and a kill-joy for your J.a inside-sucking, lemon juice-dripping, eat-with-your-hands experience. Roasting over boiling because the sugar concentrates as the water leaves the vegetable. Boiling adds more water, thereby diluting the sweetness. This effect is slightly reduced if J.a. are boiled in their skins*****
6. The only time it is acceptable to peel J.a. is if you’re making J.a. soup or you’re cooking for someone who cares about presentation******
7. Simply, enjoy. J.a. are a winter treat. They may look awful but they taste wonderful. Don’t judge a book by its cover and all that. I suppose this point gets a bit wordy. I did well up until now, didn’t I? Please enjoy the endnotes below.
Whole Roasted Jerusalem Artichokes
2 lbs Jerusalem artichokes, washed (scrubbed if covered in soil)
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp fresh thyme, rosemary, or sage (1 tsp dried)
juice of 1/2 a lemon (optional)
Directions:
Prick Jerusalem artichokes all over with a fork as for baked potatoes. Combine all ingredients in a large baking dish. Toss to coat. Roast, uncovered, in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for about an hour or until Jerusalem artichokes are soft when pressed with a fork, or the skins break. Larger ones will take longer. You can chop them to all the same size if you want, but the insides won’t soften the same unless you use more oil and coat all the cut sides well.
Either sprinkle with lemon juice or serve as is. Smile.
*Even when using a spoon, peeling this vegetable wastes too much of the flesh. And why dirty a utensil when your teeth need a workout anyway?
**If the lemon juice runs down your forearms, so be it. Dessert should be fresh peaches in summer and pears in winter for matched arm-juice-running. Apple tarte tatin would also be acceptable, but is much more difficult to eat with your hands. It is, however, much neater arm-juice-wise. I say just load up on more J.a instead…or if you must have dessert try a very nice square of dark chocolate. Do not put the chocolate on a plate. That’s a waste of a perfectly clean plate. Today I woke up with a pair of thermal socks neatly folded on top of my bed. After eating three squares of dark chocolate with dessert the night before, I had gone to bed the wearing the socks because my feet were cold. I had a horrible sleep, woke up at 6am unable to get back to sleep, and I realized I must have at some point removed the socks in my sleep. this in itself is not unusual but I’m suitably creeped out by the fact that my asleep self actually folded the socks and placed them on top of my bed. I am barely able to fold socks while awake, for goodness sake…
***Toasted, preferably. Or sweet and salty olives. A tiny sprinkle of chili flakes is fine to bring out flavour, but preferably none.
****Mashed with butter or coconut oil, a little salt and pepper. Maybe some roasted garlic (since they already had the oven on for the Jerusalem artichokes anyway).
*****Sure, you could add peeled J.a. to stews in chunks, but they’ll turn to mush. You could sauté peeled and sliced J.a. in oil or butter to brown them before adding them to sauce-heavy or braised dishes. But life is too short.
******I do, however, recommend removing that person from your life if he or she doesn’t see the value and pleasure of eating with his or her hands. They are clearly not a sensual person and what’s the use of that?
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