This is what these guys look like. I couldn't find them at Schnucks, and had to go to Whole Foods to get them. They are also known as sunchokes. I actually looked it up, and it appears that the name has nothing to do with the city of Jerusalem. The name came b/c it sounds similar to the word "sunflower" in Italian. Which is in turn relevant, b/c the flower of this plant looks a lot like a sunflower. Also, this is a plant native to the Americas.
I decided to roast these little guys, which is pretty much my treatment of choice of all vegetables. Toss with some olive oil, put on a sheet pan, and roast at 450 degrees for about 30-40 minutes. By the way, I just washed them, scrubbed them clean and roasted them whole with the peel left intact. Toss with some salt and pepper and you are done.
This is what they look like after you roast them, cut in half. They look like potatoes, really.
My three year old daughter gobbled them up at a speed usually reserved for chicken nuggets and French fries.
It takes very much like potatoes, with a little less starchiness -- the texture wasn't quite and smooth and velvety as a potato -- it was similar to maybe a turnip or celery root. And the taste was just a touch nuttier than potatoes. All in all delicious.
Sunchokes are significantly more expensive than potatoes, and while the taste is very similar, unless sunchokes are nutritionally superior to potatoes, I will probably not purchase them very often.
No comments:
Post a Comment