Monday, March 14, 2016

Harvest, Delivery to the Food Bank

72 pound of Jerusalem Artichokes, harvested, washed, delivered to the Rainier Valley Food Bank on Saturday 

Two blue crates filled with sunchokes!





 A narrow border to the basketball court was used to create a growing space for the sunchokes which yielded 72# this year. Nutritious, delicious, and at $4.99 per pound recently at Whole Foods Market, a gold mine.




Saturday, March 12, 2016

#26 Edemame, Feta, Sunchoke Spread






1 cup whole edemame beans (removed from the shell, boiled from freezer 3 min)  
1/2 cup Feta 
1/4 plain greek Yogurt
1/2 cup Jerusalem artichokes, steamed or boiled, and cut small
1 clove of garlic
1 tsp lemon juice
2 T olive oil
Chopped chives (or your favorite fresh herb)
sea salt

Hand mash or blend ingredients in a food processor
(First time I used garlic no lemon, second time I used lemon and no garlic...)








#25 Individual Sunchoke Pot Pies - Vegan

Filling: sunchokes, mushrooms, carrots, onions, leeks, turmeric, olive oil, cashew milk, cooked potato and water, nutritional yeast, lemon, salt and pepper, thyme, filled into individual dishes and topped with a top crust, or with shapes. Bake about half hour in a 425 degree oven.


Sweet small individual pot pies actually hold a lot of filling. Sweet and tastey to bring to a pot luck such as after the Bradner Gardens work party.. Bradner gardeners enjoyed them!


#24 Sunchoke, Spinach Eggs Benedict



crumpet, hollandaise sauce, wilted spinach, boiled sunchokes, egg poached in sunchoke water








#23 Fish, Forrage, Farm - Smoked Sunchokes with Halibut


Fished halibut was caught in Alaskan waters last September. 
Foraged wild black trumpet, winter chantrelle and (farmed) Shitake mushrooms, from coop market.   
Farmed Jerusalem Artichokes (sunchokes) were grown in a home garden plot.

This dish featured halibut that was smoked in my stove top smoker, along with some sunchokes, shallots, and thyme, s&p and brushed with olive oil. Wild mushrooms sauteed in butter with lemon. Served on sunchoke puree (boiled sunchokes with broth from cooking, a little cream, S&P), topped with a shake of smoked paprika. 





Monday, March 7, 2016

#22 Sunchoke Gnocchi with pancetta and chives




This super hearty meal would be good after an afternoon of splitting wood, snowshoeing, a kayak paddle on cold water, or city walk in the bitter cold. Something warm and comforting to come home to. Sunchokes produce in a less heavy result than potato, as it's fiber rich and not a starch. Next time I'll reduce the potato and flour even more and see if it works.


We substituted mashed sunchokes for most of the potato in potato gnocchi with great results. This is a recipe under development. If you have contributions to make, let me know!

The boiled sunchokes were pretty water logged, so I ended up adding more flour than I'd like. I might try steaming or baking the chokes to reduce liquid next time. I'm eager to see what happens if I eliminate the potato.

I used heritage Einkorn flour, but all-purpose flour should work.

1. Mix sunchokes, potato, parmesan cheese, chopped chives, lemon zest, salt and pepper.
2. Stir in flour, reserving 1/4 cup. Work in one egg and as much additional flour needed until dough stops being sticky and hold up well enough when you pinch a piece off.
3. I flattened the dough on a board, cut into strips, made a ruffled pattern in the dough with a chop stick, cut into triangle shapes, and added in batches to the boiling liquid. When done, after about 6 minutes, drain, then add toppings. Enough for 4 servings.

Ingredients:
1.5 (or more) cups peeled, boiled and mashed sunchokes, removing parts that don't mash
Reserve broth from cooking sunchokes for boiling the gnocchi
1 cup mashed Russet potato
*1 cup flour, plus more if needed
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
1 tablespoon of wilted chives
lemon zest
Salt & Pepper

Toppings for hot gnocchi:
a few dots of butter
cooked pancetta bits
peas
a squeeze of lemon juice
a small dash of cream
a drizzle of the thickened cooking water
S & P to taste
parmesan
chive garnish