Sunchoke Vegetable Broth for French Onion Soup

The sunflower tuber helped give this vegetable broth a rich deep flavor that made a hearty French Onion Soup without meat.

Pan 1: onions:
First start the onions sautéing for the soup. Add 1/2 of a stick of butter to pan to melt, (or sunflower oil), on medium heat, add 5 or 6 thinly sliced yellow onions, or a combination of yellow and red. Salt & pepper generously. Add one bay leaf,  1/4 c. red wine and 1 tsp sugar. Sautée for 40-50 minutes until carmelized. Continue to add butter or oil as needed. Put aside until ready to serve, then reheat and add 1/2 c white wine and 1/2 brandy or cognac.

Pan 2: Vegetables
sautéed the following vegetables in butter or sunflower oil:
sunchokes, parsnips, celery root, carrot, fennel, apple, onion, garlic
sautéed on medium a few minutes
add 1 cup broth and cook until vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes longer
salt & pepper

Pan 3: Broth
Melt 1 T butter or 1T of sunflower oil in another pan
add:
2 T nutritional yeast
1 tsp white miso
1 tsp brown barely miso
1 tsp cider vinegar
1 tsp of a smokey soy sauce
1 T mushroom soup base (undiluted with water)
mix slurry with 1 box of vegetable broth
add some celery, some onion  and boil mixture for 5 minutes
salt & pepper

Add sauteed vegetables from pan 2 to broth in pan 3 and cook 5-10 minutes longer. Remove vegetables. (can be reused in another soup or stew)

Broil French bread slices with Gruyere cheese (or vegan cheese) and melt part-way if you want to return compiled soup to the over.

Assemble:
onions, broth, place grilled French bread on top, if you like, you can broil until cheese is super melted.

Sunchoke Crop Check

Checking out the sun chokes, which will wait in the ground until February when harvested for the Rainier Valley Food Bank. They can be harvested any time before they start to grow again in the spring. Sauteeing them with onions in butter until lightly brown is delicious. The next day left overs went into the spinach-pesto pasta dish and provided a velvety sweet contrast to the pesto 

Roasted Parsnip-Sunchoke Soup

#28 Smokey Sunchoke Mac & Cheese

The only thing to say is that this is an excuse for Mac & Cheese made a little bit less decadent with a vegetable presence, and yet tasting as good as it comes. 

First there was a béchamel sauce with flour, butter and plenty of milk. Then grated sharp cheddar cheese and smoky cheddar cheese were added to the sauce with lots of stirring. Thickened further with grated parmesan cheese. Combine with pasta and sunchokes that have been boiled until soft. Salt and pepper.  Broil the Mac & Cheese in individual oven proof dishes until bubbly and a little brown. Top with a dash of Spanish smoked paprika or sirachi.

LIP SMACKING GOOD

Sunchoke food security demonstration and art project at Bradner Gardens

Sunchokes are BIG this year

The fence art needs a refresh

     

Sunchoke Harvest at Bradner Gardens

Rain or shine!
What: Sunchoke Harvest, sculpture making, replanting for next year
Why: Food for the Rainier Valley Food Bank and some to take home
Where: Bradner Gardens Park, 29th Avenue S. & S. Grand St.
When: Sunday February 26th, Noon
Treats and test tasting
It's time to Harvest our over-wintered 2016 Jerusalem Artichokes, aka sunchokes for the Rainier 

Mandala Art Lentil Curry Stew for RVFB