Sunchokes may also be known as Jerusalem Artichokes, but they are no artichoke. In fact they are all brown and knobby and look a lot more like overgrown ginger (but don’t taste like ginger) than anything else. I feel like we’ve been seeing sunchokes everywhere (Top Chef anyone?). Lately they’ve been all over restaurant menus too — from fried to pureed — which I really enjoyed — and I was excited to see the sunchoke recipe in the latest issue of Fine Cooking.
I whipped up a bunch of the roasted sunchokes with artichoke hearts today during the Super Bowl — although “whipped up” is probably a little bit of an exaggeration because it took longer than I expected. I sliced up the sunchokes and placed them into lemon water so they wouldn’t get brown / oxidized, but then they were too wet when I put them in the pan to brown them, so it took a long time to get the nice brown color. The second batch (I did extra) I drained and patted dry first, and they browned up nicely. Next time, I’d make sure they were a little drier before frying, and get a nice brown crustiness on all of them.
[aside: Oh, and the big deal with the oven-safe skillet I used? I did get it out of the oven safely, obviously using an oven mitt, but then once I put it down on the stove, I kept forgetting it was still hot and trying to grab the handle. Ouch. Luckily no big burns. And next time I am just going to put a sheath (if I can find it - it's been missing for a while) or an oven mitt on it so I don't grab it.]
Overall — liked the dish, and the lemony-tangy-ness of the sauce. Liked the crispy-chewy mix of textures in the sunchokes themselves, and the artichokes also made a nice complement. But, I’m not in love with it. Still like sunchokes though and am still determined to find a go-to recipe for them that really pops. Next time I’ll try another approach, maybe chopping the sunchokes into smaller pieces and tossing them in some olive oil and garlic.
Pan-Roasted Sunchokes and Artichoke Hearts with Lemon-Herb Butter
- 2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 lb. medium sunchokes, scrubbed and cut (original recipe says 3/4″ wedges, I like a little thinner and smaller, say 1/4-1/2″)
- Kosher salt
- 8 oz. frozen quartered artichoke hearts, thawed (surprised but these are actually pretty good)
- 2 Tbs. finely chopped shallot (used my Cuisinart mini-prep for this – super quick)
- 3 Tbs. dry vermouth
- 1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
- 2 Tbs. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces (of course I used extra butter. we are talking about me here – but I also had extra sunchoke so I used that as my excuse)
- 1 Tbs. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 2 tsp. chopped fresh tarragon (I amped up the tarragon a bit from this to almost a 1:1 ratio with the parsley)
- Freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to
400°F with a rack in the top-third of the oven.
Use an ovenproof skillet. Heat the oil until shimmering hot and fry the sunchokes (scatter a pinch of salt over) until well-browned on each side. The original recipe says 2-3 minutes each side but your mileage may vary (mine were longer because my sunchokes were wet). Toss the artichoke hearts in and another pinch of salt and continue frying and stirring occasionally till the artichoke hearts are a little brown, probably another 2-3 minutes (that was about right for me).
Place the skillet in the oven for about 20 minutes. We’re aiming for the sunchokes to be tender and if you cut them a little smaller they will cook faster. Remove from the oven and turn them out of the pan into a bowl, cover with foil. Put the skillet back on the stove (medium heat) and cook the shallot till soft and brown. Deglaze the pan with the vermouth — and keep going until the vermouth is almost gone. At this point, ower the heat, add the lemon juice (a healthy squeeze if you’re eyeballing it), and then add the butter a little at a time to let it melt and incorporate into the sauce. After all the butter is in — stir in the herbs, and pour the sunchokes and artichokes back into the pan to coat the veggies with the sauce and to heat through.
