What the *&#^ is That: Jerusalem Artichoke Edition

The Jerusalem Artichoke or Sunchoke

Every couple weeks, the produce co-op I use likes to surprise their participants by sending us home with something uncommon, unusual or exotic. That's how I ended up with these gnarly little tubers. No, they're not ginger root. They're Jerusalem Artichokes or Sunchokes, and they're kind of awesome.

According to Wikipedia:
The Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), also called the sunroot, sunchoke, earth appletopinambour, is a species of sunflower native to eastern North America, and found from Eastern Canada and Maine west to North Dakota, and south to northern Florida and Texas.It is also cultivated widely across the temperate zone for its tuber, which is used as a root vegetable.

Turns out, they're pretty tasty too. They're a bit crisper than a potato - almost like a very starchy apple - and have a nutty taste. But what to do with them? The first idea I got came from a post on the Bountiful Baskets facebook page. A poster suggested making a hash, so that's exactly what we did.

Root Vegetable Hash

1. Dice potatoes, sweet potatoes, sunchoke and onion. Drizzle the vegetables with oil, season with salt and pepper, and roast in a 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes - until soft.
2. After roasting, pan fry the veggies until they're crisp. (I fried them in bacon drippings, but olive oil or butter would work great as well) In the last few minutes, wilt in some spinach leaves. 
3. Top with Parmesan cheese. I tried to make curls, but they didn't curl.

Brunch

 Later, Nathan took his bachelor-pad-days deep fryer down from the top of the fridge and made chips with the rest of the roots. They were so crispy and great with soup. He fried them for 3 minutes at 360 degrees.

 

This one is a piggie.