Sunchokes, or Jerusalem Artichokes, are a root vegetable that look nothing like normal artichokes. They seem to be perpetually in season at our farmer’s market and are an amazing Flavor Vehicle. This particular recipe is an extension of a Jamie Oliver cooking technique for Jerusalem artichokes, but adds some new twists.
This is a great meal on its own or a great side to any winter meal in general.
It uses about a pound of sunchokes, 2-3 sausages (we used a chicken/garlic sausage, but any will do), 1/2 small onion, 2 cloves garlic, 1 to 1-1/2 cups white wine, fresh thyme, fresh sage, 1/2 cup heavy cream and 3/4 grated parmesan cheese. Olive oil, butter and salt & pepper.
Start by peeling the skin off the sunchokes. This is a tedious process, but it goes by fast with a sharp peeler. After they are all peeled, rinse in cold water and chop the ‘chokes into 1/2″ pieces. Chop the sausage into similar sized pieces. Dice the 1/2 onion and garlic cloves. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 375.
Heat a skillet with about 1 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp Olive oil. Put the chopped onion and garlic on over medium-high heat. Get them covered and soft, about 2-3 minutes, and then add the chopped sunchokes. Add a little more butter if it starts to dry out and let all the ingredients just start to brown – about 3-5 mins.
Add the chopped sausage. Continue to cook the whole mixture until the edges of the sausage start to brown, another 3-5 mins.
Add in the white wine and about 1Tbsp fresh time (trap the stalks between your fingers and strip off the leaves – try not to include the stalks in the hash) and some salt & pepper to taste. Cover and reduce the heat and allow the whole thing to simmer, covered, for about 8-12 mins (or until the sunchokes are soft but not yet mushy, test with a fork).
Remove the cover, turn up the heat a bit, and allow the rest of the wine to boil off. Add the heavy cream and about 1 Tbsp chopped fresh sage and allow the cream to reduce by 1/2 to 2/3, and thicken. Turn off the heat and immediately add the grated parmesan – mixing thoroughly. Place 4-5 whole sage leaves to the top of the mixture and place in the oven until just browned – about 5-8 minutes. The sage leave will crispen.
Serve with green broccoli or brussell sprouts and a crisp white wine.
Dinner at Our Place 