Sweet & Savory Kitchens

Aunt Suzy says

I recently saw Jerusalem Artichokes, aka sunchokes, at our main Minneapolis Farmer’s Market and remembered that Randy had made a delicious dish of these stewed with tomatoes.  I imagine this is probably the last weekend that we would see locally grown produce so I grabbed them up along with a number of bunches of hearty greens for a cooking extravangaza weekend.   Here’s why I think this will be the last of locally grown produce – this happened the following weekend! (and yes, folks, this is a color picture!)

 I came home with the Jerusalem Artichokes and asked Randy about the dish he had made a few years ago.  He finally remembered that it was from an old Marcella Hazan cookbook.   I fell in love this cookbook, which I have never perused before.  Each recipe has a big descriptive paragraph in front of it where she talks about the ingredients, the history of the dish, her feelings about it.  Sometimes she gets off on tangents, like in this recipe she talks about how the method in this dish represents the underpinnings of the Italian approach to fresh cooking and then launches off to talk about how many restaurants take shortcuts now, much to the detriment of quality dining.  It’s sort of like a blog in print.  I think the book is totally cute also, hearkening back to paperbacks of the 70’s (it was published in 1978).

The recipe is called “smothered” rather than stewed and it is a snap to make once you have peeled the sunchokes, which is not the easiest thing to do!  But it’s worth it.  Find out more about Jerusalem Artichokes here.  We served this dish with salmon and green rice, which Margaux has mentioned a couple of times in other posts.  One of us will make it and put up a post about it soon – it’s a favorite!

2 pounds (or so) Jerusalem Artichokes, peeled and diced in 1/2″ cubes (about 3-4 cups)

2 Tablespoons EV Olive Oil

1 medium onion, diced

1-2 cloves garlic, inced

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, including juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Place a medium pot over medium high heat and add the oil.  When shimmering, add the onion.  Immediately turn the heat down to medium and saute until soft and starting to turn golden.  Add the garlic and stir for about a minute until it becomes fragrant.  Add the parsley and stir one more minute.  Add the tomatoes and then the Jerusalem Artichokes.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 30-45 minutes until tender.  This can be made ahead and reheated.  But just once says Marcella or you will become like those restaurants who don’t care about quality anymore :-).