Mandrake soup

'Mandrake, or Mandragora, is a powerful restorative,' said Hermione, sounding as usual as though she had swallowed the textbook. 'It is used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed, to their original state.'

- Hermione Granger, The Chamber of Secrets

I'm not really going to talk about the mandrake root, even if I do find it fascinating, but rather about the Jerusalem Artichoke (helianthus tuberosus), also known as sunroot, sunchoke, earth apple or topinambour, that may at times bear a resemblance to that of the root.

Now this funny little chubby root has been the hot topic in the culinary industry for some time.
It has a fantastic underground nutty flavour and resembles the potato as far as starch goes. It's eaten like the potato in many parts of Western Europe and Mediterranean regions.

It is said to be one of the finest sources of dietary fibers, minerals and various vitamins. Basically this chubby, funny looking root is a health bomb, and rightly so because it is Delicious!

The other day I decided to make a rich, creamy soup for me and my grandmother with whom I am living nowadays. I always try to cook as healthy as possible as Gran is a fragile old woman who rarely cooks anything other than the usual potato-carrot food, so it does her good to eat healthy and nutritionally.
So, bombs away for my recipe for a super Jerusalem artichoke soup!

Creamy Jerusalem Artichoke-Potato Soup with Thyme 
...and spring onions, cream and grated grana padana cheese.

Recipe

• butter & olive oil for frying (about a couple of tbspns each)
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• 1 semi-big yellow onion, chopped up
• 500 grams of Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and diced
• ca 400 grams of potatoes (all around or soupy kind), peeled and diced
• roughly 1-1,5 of cream, depending on the consistency you want your soup to be
• ca 12 decilitres of water
• 1 vegetable buillon cube
• salt, pepper, thyme ...*
• Optional: a couple of decilitres of white wine, Chardonnay.

* As far as seasoning goes, I mostly go with the flow and add whatever I feel for in the heat of the moment.

For this soup I used dried thyme, a couple of pinches of cayenne pepper for warmth, aroma salt (without glutamate) and roasted garlic from a mill.

How To

• heat up olive oil and butter, add onions and garlic
• fry until the onion is pretty and glazed, then toss in the chokes and taters
• fry these for a little while (a couple of stirs, like chefs do on the tv)
• Optional: If you add wine, now is the time for it. One dl for the soup, one for you, one for the soup.. one for you..
• Add the water and the buillon cube, brig to boil then lower the heat to medium and let boil until the taters and chokes are soft and mushy
• Either pour it into a mixer or use a hand blender and puree the soup, along with the cream, into a smooth richy goodness. At this point you can also, if you want to, add a tbsp of butter.
• Put back on heat, season until you feel like it's the best you've made (perhaps add a drop of wine) and Violá! You have yourself a super creamy, rich, falvourful soup.

I served this topped with lightly whipped cream (try whip it with sherry or brandy), grated grana padano parmesan cheese and chopped spring onions. It also goes well with a grilled cheese or a light salad.

Grilled cheese sandwich with grilled aubergine and champignons. Omnom!

Enjoy your masterpiece, bon apetité!

-L-