Sunchoke with Grapefruit and Olives

What with what and what, now?

The Jerusalem artichoke, whose name seems to be shifting toward "sunchoke" in most circles even though that word is really upsetting to SpellCheck, is kind of a jerk to work with. You can kind of tell by looking at them: they're not easy to peel, and not quick to become tender.

They're actually the tuberous root of a pretty yellow sunflower, and they taste so much prettier than they look. They do this weird, fun thing to your mouth where they awaken your salivary glands -- you can feel it way back at the joint of your jaw. It's an active flavor, nutty and sweet and tangy and surprising, and every time a bite of this soup was in my mouth, that was the only thing on my mind. It's practically a meditation aid. You know like when you were 9 and you thought Pop Rocks were awesome and you'd just smile and wait for them to be done crackling in your mouth? Same, but only figuratively explosive, and also a vegetable.

The action! The drama! The suspense!

Sunchoke sounds so violent, so dark. But this is one bright, unforgettable flavor. Logan insists everything about this soup is misleading. "It has a strange, pasty color, there's grapefruit and olives together, and you're like what the. And then it's delicious." He kind of thought it was a prank at first. A prahnk.

I adapted this soup to make it a little bit less rich, but it wasn't even by choice. Ye Olde Vine St. Kroger had no heavy cream, so I used the lovely Snowville Creamery whole milk I had in the fridge instead. If I made it again, I'd do the same; it was plenty creamy and that gave us an excuse to buy two pints of Graeter's ice cream on the way back from the grocery. The sweetness of the cream might have mellowed out a bit of that tang, but I personally don't see that as a bonus.

You'll notice there aren't many ingredients in this soup, but it still tastes quite complex. The little slivers of olive saltbombs and bittersweet, juicy grapefruit segments work better together than you can imagine. And the clean and bright flavor allowed lovely notes of the dry California Chardonnay to come through.

 

Confession: When I got up to take my bowl to the kitchen (a whole 7 steps from the couch), I surreptitiously licked my bowl just a little bit. Like just one lick. A tiny little itty bitty little lick. But I wanted to kitty-cat-with-a-bowl-of-cream the whole thing.

This is the first Stephanie Izard recipes I've tried, but after watching her on Top Chef and eating at both of her restaurants in Chicago, I was confident I was in good hands. This soup made me a little too excited to try everything else in her book, so...how many meals are there in a day, again?

As a heads-up, this is more of a starter soup than a meal soup. I served it with a lemon/sage/toasted walnut linguine. Just had to make sure my body's pasta weight percentages were properly calibrated.

To add to a successful night of cooking, I had a brilliant night of hangtime with my friend Adam, who just returned to the tri-state for a respite from his life in LA. We talked about life and film, Shia LaBeouf and Taylor Swift, ramen, froyo, and what constitutes a mess. We drank some wine, we watched some shows, we were happy. This kind of happy:

Video recommended by Adam, beeteedubs.

Anyway, great soup, great night. And to be honest, any excuse to stay in on a Friday night is an excuse this 32-year-old can get behind.


Sunchoke Soup with Olives and Grapefruit

Serves 4
Slightly adapted from Stephanie Izard's Girl In The Kitchen

THE THINGS:

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup yellow onion, diced (one small onion)
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 cup dry Chardonnay
2 pounds of sunchokes, peeled and sliced 1/2" thick
3 cups vegetable broth
3/4 cups whole milk
4 large green olives, thinly sliced (about 4 tablespoons -- I used castelvetrano because I had them, but Izard recommends cerignola)
12 Ruby Red grapefruit supremes


THE METHOD:

Melt butter in your soup pot over medium heat and add onion and garlic. Cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add wine and simmer until 2/3 of the liquid has burned off.

Add sunchokes and a few pinches of salt and freshly ground pepper.

Add the 3 cups of vegetable broth plus 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

Add the whole milk and blend until smooth with an immersion blender or, carefully, in a traditional blender.

Taste for seasoning, and add salt and pepper if needed.

Serve topped with three grapefruit supremes, 1/4 of your olive slices, and a sprinkling of pepper.