When the vegetable box came a couple of weeks ago and in with my cabbage, mushrooms, apples etc was a brown paper bag of knobolly strange little vegetables I’ll be honest I wasn’t sure what to do with them. I have eaten Jerusalem Artichokes before however it’s always been in the form of a mash or puree or soup – in other words mushy! Don’t get me wrong I like a break for my teeth once in a while and I love mash but I was keen to try something different. I used their earthy nutty flavour as a guide and combined with some smoky bacon and Rosemary as well as a fresh hit of lemon to make a nice simple side dish.
The Jerusalem Artichokes is earthy and nutty like a globe artichoke, but is not related to them, in fact it’s a type of sunflower which having googled what their flowers look like you can instantly see – I am definitely going to consider growing them as apparently they are super easy to grow – let me know if anyone has any experience of growing them?
The garden is progressing slowly, weighing it up against working on the house (the house won this bank holiday – the plus side being the whole of downstairs has now been decorated!) but we had some sunshine last Sunday so we dug two vegetable patches out of the lawn and I traipsed up and down the side of the house with barrow loads of compost, we now have what very much looks like two lined up graves in the garden. Hopefully when we use some wood to make them into raised beds they will look less grave-y – fingers crossed. We also laid out lots of string for beds and paths so we have a pretty good idea of what it will all look like. Dad is coming up next weekend and bringing his fancy new chainsaw to help us cut down a couple of the oak tree branches to raise the canopy and let a bit more light into the bottom of the garden and I’ll get to grill mum on ideas for planting. Holding out for a few sunnier, or at least not rainy days so we can get to work on it.
Anyway enough garden rambling back to the vegetables..
Earthy Jerusalem Artichokes
Serves four as a side dish
- 8 medium Jerusalem Artichokes
- 1 lemon – zested and juiced.
- 5 Rashes of smoky streaky bacon
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp of finely chopped Rosemary
- Optional delicious extra – a few drops of truffle oil
The artichokes will go brown if peeled and left out so first of all fill a mixing bowl with cold water and add the juice of the lemon to the water – as you peel each artichoke pop them straight into the lemony water. Once they are all peeled chop into small wedges.
Drain the wedges from the lemon water and add to a shallow frying pan on a medium heat, add a mug full of water to the pan and cover with a lid or tin foil – this allows them to part steam part boil in the pan. Once you can hear the water simmering leave over a low to medium heat for fifteen minutes by which time the artichoke wedges should have softened but still retain their shape.
Whilst the artichokes are cooking fry or grill the bacon until it is nice and crispy, set aside to cool then slice into thin strips.
Remove the lid of the pan turn up to a medium heat and allow any remaining water to evaporate off then add the butter, rosemary, half of the lemon zest as well as a good pinch of salt and pepper. Sautee for around 5 minutes so all the flavours can combine and the artichokes can turn golden brown.
Serve with the remaining lemon zesty and for a real treat a few drops of truffle oil.
Fruits, Roots & Shoots 