Sunchoke (Jerusalem Artichoke) & Mushroom Soup

My new found love, as you may know, is the Jerusalem Artichoke (a.k.a. Sunchoke).  Watch out kale, watch out, because I'm starting to cheat. This nutty, perfect to roast, easy to prep, lesser known root veg may be edging you out as my favorite.

The nutty flavor lends itself to good paring with mushrooms.  So when we opened the Montauk house last weekend, I tried my hand at a new soup recipe.  (Did you process that? We... opened... the... Montauk... house!! Hooray!)

Healthy, but complex, I hope you enjoy it.

Jerusalem Artichoke & Mushroom Soup 
Ingredients

• 3 cups of cleaned, roughly peeled (remove major nubs) and chopped Jerusalem Artichokes / Sunchokes
• 1 - 1.5 cups of cleaned, chopped mushrooms 
• 3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
• 3 cups of broth / stock (beef would be great here, but I had homemade chicken stock on hand)
• Salt & Pepper

 Directions

• Cover the Jerusalem Artichokes with water in a pot, and boil over medium heat until tender (15 - 20 minutes depending on the size of your chop)
• Meanwhile, melt the butter in a pot and saute the mushrooms until glistening, adding the garlic in 3/4ths of the way through
• Salt and pepper the mushrooms to taste
• Add the tomato paste and stock, stirring to mix
• Drain the sunchokes and add them to the main pot
• Puree using an immersion hand blender or by transferring to a blender in batches
• Top with herbs and a poached egg and serve

Soup with a half submerged Poached Egg

Carrot Ginger Soup with Coconut Roasted Shrimp

Carrot and ginger are making their second combined appearance here on Lauren Living Locally. If you happen to be a regular reader, you'll remember this conversation where a fellow CSA loving neighbor and I dorked-out over veggies, farm shares and kale at a holiday party. This soup was for him and his growing family, after he and his wife welcomed a second precious baby girl with the fullest head of hair.

After we had our son earlier this year, he dropped off the most *SCRUMPTIOUS* beef stew, brimming with 18 hour braised root vegetables.  It was absolutely divine, and I am yet to produce a stew anywhere near as delicious, despite having literally the exact same ingredients at my disposal.  I love a cooking goal, and that stew is high on the target list. 

Hoping to return the post-baby meal delivery favor, I wanted to make a CSA-based meal that I knew he wouldn't make himself.  Using the shrimp from this Food & Wine recipe, and my take on a yummy flavor combination you have Lauren Living Locally's version of Carrot & Ginger Soup with Coconut Roasted Shrimp.  The samples tasted while prepping were yummy, and early reviews via text message were positive! 

Carrot and Ginger Soup with Coconut Roasted Shrimp 
Ingredients

• 4 cups of cleaned and roughly chopped carrots
• 1 white onion, diced
• 2 shallots, minced
• 3 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 4 cups of chicken or vegetable broth 
• 1 can light coconut milk
• 12 extra large shrimp, cleaned with tails on
• 1.5 tablespoons of coconut shreds
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• Pinch of cayenne
• Salt & Pepper

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
• In a large soup pot, melt the butter over medium heat
• Add the onion and shallots, and saute until glistening
• Add the tomato paste and ginger and stir to combine
• Toss in the carrots, and cook for two minutes
• Cover the entire contents with the stock, bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer over low heat cooking with the top on until the the carrots are tender (15-20 minutes depending on the chop of your carrots)
• Blend with an immersion hand blender or transfer to a food processor
• Once blended, return to the pot and stir in the coconut milk
• Keep warm 
• Meanwhile, toss the cleaned, tail on shrimp with the olive oil, salt and pepper, cayenne and shredded coconut
• Line a tray with parchment paper, and bake in a 400 degree oven for 7-9 minutes until pink
• Serve the soup topped with the coconut shrimp and a side of chunky bread

Soup en route 

Carrot Ginger Salad Dressing

As part of Operation July (a.k.a. feel good about my body 6 months after birth), I am on a vegetable-based lunch mission. It has taken a bit of discipline to have enough creative and quick to make options on hand, but I'm getting better at it.

I'm washing and bagging my own lettuce mix (radicchio, endive and red leaf), storing chopped vegetables to easily scoop on salads, hard-boiling a dozen eggs on the weekend, and always making sure I have ripe avocado and good steaming vegetables on hand.

The real breakthrough has come by stocking up on homemade dressing. Prep on Sunday is leading to saved time mid-week AND a good variety making the vegetable lunch mission sustainable. Sesame vinaigrette, shallot lime... and today's flavor, Carrot Ginger.

As you know from this post, I'm a Japanese food fanatic. The winter CSA is carrot and garlic heavy, so the timing is perfect for my take on the staple Japanese dressing. I've made a lot of carrot ginger dressings, (this, that and the other one) and now have my personal perfect recipe down. The key is 10 minutes of extra work, boiling the carrots to soften them. It makes all the difference. Enjoy!

Carrot and Ginger Salad Dressing 
Ingredients

• Juice of 1 lemon
• Juice of 1 orange
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1.5 inches of fresh ginger, peeled*
• 1.5 tablespoons tahini
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 3-4 medium to large carrots 
• 1/3 cup reserve cooking water

Directions

• Clean the carrots, roughly chop them, place them in a small pot and cover with water
• Bring to a boil and cook over medium low heat for 10 minutes
• Drain, reserving 1/3 cup of cooking water
• Add all the ingredients to a food processor, and blend until smooth

*Love this trick: The easiest way to peel ginger is with a teaspoon.... the skin slides off!

The latest batch of dressings, Carrot Ginger on top!

Roast Chicken with Jerusalem Artichokes (Sunchokes)

I love artichokes. The flower-like symmetry, the tender layer of "meat" on the leaves, the delicately cupped heart, the gorgeous purple and green hues... Perfection.  In fifth grade, the tradition at my school was for each student to create their favorite food in clay. I sculpted, fired and glazed a particularly UN-symmetric, NOT so gorgeous artichoke and proudly displayed it on parents night in a sea of ice cream, spaghetti and pizza.

So imagine my delight last year when receiving the CSA announcement about an upcoming delivery of Jerusalem Artichokes. I was surprised it was a local possibility, but hey an artichoke is an artichoke... right???

Then these guys showed up:

Not purple, nor green, and certainly not symmetrical or flower-like!  A brown, ginger looking root bulb.  A total misnomer.  Yet... there must be something in a name because I loved them. Nutty, perfect to roast, great with a little caramelizing and as I learned with a little experimentation, not nearly as daunting to prepare as their appearance would suggest.

This recipe for a roast chicken (thanks mummy!) with Jerusalem Artichokes, aka Sunchokes, is a cinch to prepare and gorgeous on the table.  If you only want to prepare the Jerusalem Artichokes, omit the chicken and other veg, and just include the lemon, rosemary olive oil blend.  Next up, Jerusalem Artichoke soup.

Roast Chicken with Jerusalem Artichokes (Sunchokes) 
Ingredients

• One whole chicken (3-4 lbs for four people)
• 2 cups of washed, roughly cleaned* Jerusalem Artichokes and other root vegetables
• 1 lemon
• 3-4 sprigs of fresh rosemary
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper

*I have cooked these guys both fully peeled, and roughly cleaned and enjoy them more with a little skin.  They are softer than potatoes, so the skin keeps them in tact.  To save time, cut off any particularly dirty or bulby bits, scrub clean and peel slightly for an uneven appearance

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 375
• Remove anything from inside the chicken.  Rinse the chicken in cold water, and pat dry with paper towels
• Meanwhile, blend 1/3 - 1/2 cup of olive oil (1/4 if just doing Jerusalem Artichokes) with the juice of one lemon and the leaves off three sprigs of rosemary until mixed
• Rub 3/4ths of olive oil rosemary blend outside the chicken and in between the skin and body
• Toss the vegetables (I used two cups of Jerusalem Artichokes, carrots and turnips because I didn't have enough of the star vegetable) with the remaining olive oil blend and arrange in a single layer in a roasting pan
• Position the chicken on top in the middle of the pan (on a rack if you have one, not on a rack if you don't)
• Salt and pepper the entire pan
• Roast for 20 minutes per pound, plus an additional 15 minutes (i.e. 1 hour 35 minutes for 4 lb bird)
• Remove from the oven, and use a meat thermometer to check for 180 degree internal temperature

About Jerusalem Artichokes 

The Jerusalem Artichoke, also known as the sunchoke, sunroot or earth apple, is native to North America (not Jerusalem!).  The origins of the name are unknown, but as a part of the sunflower family it is assumed that over time the name girasole (Italian for sunflower) may have been changed to Jerusalem.  As a CSA loving-friend told me, the most interesting fact about this tuber is that it stores the carbohydrate inulin, instead of starch, making it a great alternative to potatoes for diabetics.

Before

After

Cayenne: The Simple Spice

A good friend of mine's father claims cayenne pepper is the family secret ingredient in most meals. Crab cakes, chili, pasta, eggs...you name it and cayenne is there in some form.

When my stepmother feasted her eyes on my CSA winter vegetables last night she drooled and quickly prepped them for a simple and scrumptious roasting. Black radishes, jerusalem artichokes, carrots, parsnips ... and cayenne. The secret and simplest addition.

Cayenne Roasted Vegetables 

Ingredients

• Peeled and bite size chopped root vegetables such as black radishes, carrots, Jerusalem artichokes, and parsnips
• Cayenne pepper
• Salt & pepper
• Olive oil

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 400
• Toss the vegetables with olive oil to coat (@ half a tablespoon per cup of vegetables)
• Season with salt and pepper
• Sprinkle with cayenne pepper: 1/4 a teaspoon to 1 teaspoon depending on your love of spice
• Roast for 35-45 minutes tossing twice midway

Alice Waters' Pumpkin Soup

These two characters have been staring me down every time I open the fridge. "Use me Lauren! Don't let me go to waste!" "We're going to rot!" "You love pumpkin, why are we sitting here?!?" They've been taunting me....

We are so happily settling into our new routine as a family of three. It is hard to believe our little bundle is just 2.5 weeks old. There is, undoubtedly, less time in the day for cooking and the pumpkins felt a little daunting. So I ignored them. Until today.

Laying in bed the other night I thought, "Well this is silly, Lauren, what would Alice do? She undoubtedly has a simple preparation."  One quick look at page 277 of Chez Panisse Vegetables and I had just the recipe.

Roasted Pumpkin Soup: 2 hours of total time, but more importantly, only 20 minutes of active cooking time. So simple, and so so so good. My mother and I enjoyed the soup for lunch today, and she actually used the adjective "divine." Enjoy!

Alice Waters' Roasted Pumpkin Soup 
Ingredients
(from Chez Panisse Vegetables)

• 3 lbs of fresh sugar pumpkin (2 small pumpkins in my CSA)
• 3-5 cups of chicken stock
• 2 sprigs of thyme
• 4 cloves of garlic
• Butter
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil
• 4 slices of bread
• 2 tablespoons butter

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
• Cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds and darker orange pulp
• Rub the cut sides with olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper
• Place the pumpkin, cut side down, on a baking sheet, with a sprig of thyme and 2 unpeeled cloves of garlic tucked into each cavity
• Roast for 45 minutes to one hour until completely tender
• Remove from oven, and let cool completely 
• Peel off the skin and add the remaining pumpkin to a soup pot along with the roasted garlic, squeezed out of its skin
• Strip the thyme off the stalk, and add to the pot
• Add 3 cups of chicken stock and heat to a simmer
• Alice suggests mashing together with a wire whisk... I blended with an immersion blender until smooth
• Add more chicken stock, if desired, to achieve your preferred consistency 
• Taste and adjust the seasoning with additional salt or pepper as needed
• Optional in the Alice recipe (but not in my kitchen!): add 1 tbs of butter to richen the soup

If you have the ingredients, continue with these black pepper croutons. I served my soup with a dollop of greek yogurt instead but will certainly add this croutons next time:

• Cube the bread into 1/2 inch cubes and toss with the melted butter
• Sprinkle with salt, spread on a baking sheet and roast until brown and crispy
• Generously grind black pepper as you remove from the oven
• Top the soup with the croutons and serve

Lauren Lately: Super local... stew

Lately, I've been working hard on my most local endeavor to date. Anywhere from 6-8 hours a day, I'm at it and the distance from production to consumption is less than an inch....  You see, we were blessed with the arrival of our first son, and I am deep in the trenches of breast feeding. 

For the past week since his precious arrival, we've been happily enjoying food drop-offs from my mother-in-law (Homemade lasagna, chicken and rice, etc.) and frequent take-out as we navigate this exciting time for our new family. 

It actually feels like an accomplishment making breakfast shakes every morning (Blend: 1 Banana, 1 Orange, 1 tbs ground flax seed, 1 cup yogurt, ice and almond milk), and last night, on day 7, I cooked my first meal.  

It was therapeutic to get back in the kitchen and steal a little time chopping and stewing while my hubby played with our son.  My monthly winter CSA arrived with a bundle of root vegetables, and as you may know from this post, I love freezing, and I was able to take advantage of some of summers bounty of green peppers, jalapeños and zucchini.  

Winter Root Vegetable Stew

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
• 1/8 cup chopped jalapeño
• 4 cleaned and bite size chopped carrots
• 6 cleaned and bite size chopped turnips
• 3 cleaned and bite size chopped fingerling potatoes
• 1/2 an onion finely chopped
• 1 can rinsed chick peas
• 1 large can peeled and chopped tomatoes
• 1 lb lean ground turkey
• 1 cup red wine
• 3 cloves chopped garlic
• Herbs of your choice: I used a 3 tablespoon mixture of oregano, cayenne, rosemary and thyme

Directions

• Brown the turkey, breaking it up as you cook over medium heat
• Add the garlic and onion, cook until fragrant
• Add all the vegetables, except the tomatoes, mixing well to distribute
• Pour in the red wine, let simmer for 5 minutes
• Mix in the chopped tomatoes, and fill the can 1/3 up with water.  Swish around to get all the good bits, and pour into the stew
• Add the herbs, and mix well
• Cook, over low-medium heat for 45 mins - 2 hours (lower heat for longer times).  Add more water or stock as needed
• Enjoy with crusty bread