Sunchokes

I am lucky to have friends who bring me interesting things from time to time. I received some sunchokes and counted myself lucky. I forgot to take a photo of the ones in this recipe before I used them, so I'm using a photo of some others I took a photo of at another time.

I made a Cheesy Cauliflower Sunchoke Potato Soup on one of those cold days we seemed to have in unusual times. I didn't measure ingredients precisely, and it all seemed to turn out delicious anyway.

Cheesy Cauliflower Sunchoke Potato Soup

Half a head of cauliflower
4 small potatoes
3 sunchokes
white cheddar cheese
1 bullion cube (vegetarian or chicken as desired)
salt & white pepper to taste

Peel and chop the first three ingredients and boil until tender in water nearly covering. When tender, pour the hot mixture into a blender, add the bullion cube and whir. Return to the pan.

Add white cheddar by handful, melting in and tasting and adding more until it's to your desired cheesiness. Add salt and pepper to taste.

When it's just right, pour into bowls and serve. Garnish with any interesting thing in your fridge or shelves. Chives, croutons, fried shallots, use your food artistry.

And this is my entry into Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted here at Anna's Cool Finds this week. Founded by Kalyn at Kalyn's Kitchen and now organized by Haalo at Cook Almost Anything it is a lot of fun to participate and to read about new herbs and new ways with herbs. There's a four year recap available here.

Obviously my herb this week is sunchokes. Sunchokes are also known as Jerusalem artichokes, sunroot, earth apple or topinambur. The sunchoke is the root of a type of sunflower native to the Eastern United States. High in inulin, a one-cup serving of sunchokes also provides 28% of your daily value of iron, and 10% of your daily value of Vitamin C. The same serving also provides 3 grams of protein. Sunchokes also have about six times the potassium of a banana!

I plan on posting the round up of Weekend Herb Blogging on Monday evening Pacific time, if not earlier. It's not too late to participate!