Jerusalem artichoke soup

Jerusalem artichokes are a beautiful vegetable, which I think is very under used. Probably because they have very tough skin when cooked and are time consuming to peel.

With this recipe you don’t need to peel them and you strain away all of the tough skin. This gives you a lovely earthy, caramel flavored soup, which goes well with mushrooms, garlic croutons and yoghurt.

The celeriac gives the soup a nice velvety texture, but doesn’t need to be added if you don’t have any.

Chipotle chillis are a jalapeno chilli that has been smoked. They have a nice smokey, chilli flavour with out the heat.

Ingredients

• 20g dried mushrooms
• 1T chipotle chilli
• 1 L hot water
• 1 tsp salt
• 750g Jerusalem artichokes
• 2T vegetable oil
• 500g  celeriac (peeled and sliced)                        
• 500g potatoes (peeled and sliced)                      
• 1/2 litre milk
• 1/2 cup cream
• salt and pepper

Method

Soak dried mushrooms, chipotle chilli, hot water and salt together for 2 hours
Roast the artichokes [in vegetable oil] at 180c, with the skin on, for 1 hour or until soft.
Strain the mushrooms and put the liquid into a pot.
Add the milk and cream.
Add potatoes and celeriac and bring to a simmer.
Add the mushrooms and chillis that have been soaked
Cook for 30 minutes or until soft.
Blend and pass through a sieve.
Adjust the seasoning and you may need to add more liquid, this can be milk, cream or water.
(You could also make this with soy milk.)