Sunday dinner with nephew Brian is quite the meal. I usually like to have a few courses consisting of an hors d’œuvres, an appetizer, a main, a salad and a dessert. I blogged about the Saganaki that we had as an hors d’œuvres. And then there was the salmon cake with Cilantro Pesto, now for the appetizer.
A few days ago, Charles at Five Euro Foods posted a recipe for Curry Roasted Jerusalem Artichoke Soup which peaked my interest on a number of levels. First, I have never had, or even cooked Jerusalem Artichokes and secondly, there are not too many of our friends or relatives that will eat and enjoy curry, and Brian is certainly one of them — so I thought, perfect. He’s a good guinea pig and like Mikey will eat almost anything.
The Jerusalem Artichokes were not inexpensive so I added a potato to the mix to help increase the volume (5 smallish heads were about $4.00 Canadian). This recipe ended up making about 8 cups, so I’m going to freeze it for another time. To see the original Charles’ recipe, please click here. This is a highly flavoured soup with a touch of heat. Would I make this again? I have to say that even though I was not overwhelmed by the Jerusalem Artichokes I would certainly take the spices in this soup and make it with other vegetables, such as cauliflower. The flavour certainly hit the spot, thanks Charles!
I read a tip quite some time ago, to lessen the oil used for oven roasting vegetables; fill a bowl with cold water and add 1-2 tbsp olive oil, then dump your evenly cut vegetables into the water — they will pic up the oil as your remove them with a slotted spoon. Works like a charm!
Curry Roasted Jerusalem Artichoke Soup
Ingredients:
- ~5 medium-sized Jerusalem Artichokes
- 1 medium sized Yukon Gold potato (or another potato that is creamy and not starchy)
- ~1 litre low sodium vegetable stock or water
- 3 tbsps Olive Oil
- 4-5 cipolini onions
- 1 small head of garlic
- 2 tsp Garam Masala
- 2 tsp Curry Powder
- 4 tbsp Greek yogurt with 2 tbsp milk or cream (to loosen a bit)
- Salt
Directions:
- Pre-heat oven to 375°F.
- Peel and clean the artichokes and the potato and cut into even pieces. Peel the cipolini onions.
- Mix the garam masala and the curry powder together with a pinch of salt. In the method described above, ‘oil’ the vegetables and place evenly on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with the spice mixture.
- Remove the outer skin from the garlic and place into a small ramekin; drizzle with the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil, sprinkle with a bit of sea salt. Cover with foil. Place in the corner of the baking sheet with vegetables.
- Once the vegetables are cooked through to soft, place them into a large bowl; remove the roasted garlic cloves and add to the bowl, sprinkle the olive oil onto the mixture.
- Pour the vegetable stock over the cooked vegetables and blend well with your immersion blender. Add stock or water until the desired thickness and consistency is achieved. Press through a fine sieve for a velvety smooth and creamy texture.
- Serve in a small bowl drizzled with the yogurt mixture.
- Enjoy.
[…] note: If you want to see a soup with a fabulous creamy presentation, check out Eva’s take on Charles’ Curry Roasted Jerusalem Artichoke Soup. It’s a work of art! While we […]
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Wow. That is some seriously beautiful looking soup Eva – there is no way in the good heavens though that I could duplicate your intricate pattern 😉 how gorgous! Charles is a great source of inspiration.
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Thanks so much Kelly! That pattern is very easy to make! Just put a little yogurt and milk into a squeeze bottle, shake like crazy to make a smooth liquid; squeeze into a swirl starting at the middle going out, then with a sharp point (knife will do) drag from one side of the circle to the other! 12-6 o’clock, then 9-3 o’clock etc! Done, like dinner!
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[…] thank you so much to Eva from KitchenInspirations for trying out my recent soup. Her post is here and she sure made it look beautiful. I think I’d be too scared to disturb that beautiful […]
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This looks stunning! I am not sure I have ever heard of a Jerusalem artichoke! Either way, sounds like a delicious blend for a soup!
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Thank you kindly Erin, the spices really heated it up nicely.
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Great review of this soup and I like the idea of using the same spices but on another vegetable. Jerusalem artichokes are not the easiest vegetable to find but I really enjoy them.
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I’ll have to give them another go, Lorraine.
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The soup is gorgeous! I need to learn how to do the thing with the cream to dress up my soups.
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Thank you Kyleen, and welcome to my blog, I hope to see you again!
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That looks absolutely stunning and what a GREAT tip about oiling your veggies! Thanks! As always – your photos are beautiful!
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Thank you Ann, I thought you might appreciate that little tid-bit!
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I’ve never cooked with Jerusalem artichokes, but this soup sure sounds good and really does look like a work of art! Bravo, Eva! I don’t think I’ve ever tasted anything with curry in it that I didn’t love.
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So true Betsy, a curried soup is so warm and comforting on these bitter winter days!
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I love curried things. And I love the pattern of yogurt on the dark soup with the knife drawn through it.
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Thank you Sharyn, it’s an easy trick, check out my response to Kristy!
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Looks beautiful Eva. You have the magic touch! That Brian is a lucky fellow — please say hi for us next time he’s over.
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I will Barb, we try to Sunday dinners with him but it doesn’t always work out with our schedules.
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Your soup looks beautiful. A real work of art in a bowl.
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Thank you kindly Karen.
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Beautiful Eva…absolutely beautiful. Now if only I could make something like this.
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It’s really not rocket science, Jed, quite easy in fact. You just need the right tools! But thank you so much!
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Lovely soup … gorgeous presentation. This is definitely the time for warm, filling soups, isn’t it? 🙂
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Yes, Maria, I too love soups this time of year. Thank you for the compliment!
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Your table is always set so beautifully, and the lighting is just so. 🙂 Someone asked about the spiderweb design you created for your soup with the yogurt and cream and I wondered if you have a set of those little squirt bottles for coulis, flavoured oils and other decorations? I’ve often thought of visiting the dollar store and splurging.
The nice thing about the technique is that you can use it to decorate your cakes, cookies, coffee, and so on. And it’s so simple too. 🙂
By the way, I’m curious as to how you serve your palacsinta? I want to make a batch this week as I have time off from school as the kids have exams.
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Thank you so much for your lovely compliments, Maria, you are always so generous; I do indeed have the little squirt bottles (I bought a few of them in various sizes when I saw a chef using them!). They are reusable and so handy, but make sure you get one with the little tiny cap so you could seal the liquid inside for longevity. They are very versatile, that’s for sure!
Palacsinta…I usually serve mine savoury, filling it with ham, cheese and a bechamel sauce, or even with chicken paprikas (we called it Hortobágyi palacsinta). As children, we often enjoyed palacsinta with a sweet cottage cheese filling (Mom used to make it with cottage cheese, lemon rind, a little vanilla and maybe an egg); or even like the Swiss with fruit and nutella — to be honest, I haven’t had a sweet palacsinta in years! I do hope you’ll blog about the recipe you make, and take photos…I love to see what other people are doing with Hungarian food!
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Thank you for the hint about finding squeeze bottles that have caps. I never thought of it. 🙂
I have been googling Hungarian adaptations of the basic crepe and the chicken paprikas version is pretty impressive. I’ve never had a savoury version though I am familiar with the Jewish blintzes (which use cottage cheese similar to your sweet version) as my mom used to work in a Jewish deli and made them at work, though never at home.
I will definitely post about my crepes … whichever kind they end up being. I’ve made them quite often but only ever filled them with jam or, my favourite, honey.
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That’s great Maria, I can hardly wait. And you reminded me, we used to put Mom’s strawberry preserves into the palacsinta too, with some powdered sugar on top! Mmmmmmm!
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Look at that. I can’t possibly ruin that top. Well, OK, if you insist! Where’s the bread?
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Ha ha Greg! We dove right in too!
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I think I would certainly enjoy this recipe. It looks and sounds delicious. I’ve never had the artichokes either…I’m going to keep my eyes open for them. How did you get that beautiful pattern in the soup? It’s just gorgeous! And I loved the ode to Mikey. LOL. 😉
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Thanks Kristy; the pattern is made by ‘drawing’ a swirl in the soup and then running a pointy knife across it! I use a plastic bottle with a small nib on it, very handy in several sizes.
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Looks beautiful!
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Thanks Bill.
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Like you, Eva, I’ve never tried Jerusalem artichokes either. {I’m having a hard enough time just typing their name. 🙂 } But I do love curry and I can see where this recipe would be, for me, a perfect way to check them out. Thanks for sharing both, the recipe and another blog.
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Thanks John, the curry had a lovely heat to it!
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I saw this recipe on Charles’ blog. I haven’t made it as it’s not exactly soup weather here at the moment but I do see these artichokes in the shops and I would like to try them. I think that’s wonderful that you go to all that trouble for your nephew. What a feast.
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I hear you Charlie, soup is the last thing on my mind in the summer too!
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You could always serve it cold and call it Artissoise 😀
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Now that’s interesting, Charles…I’ll have to try the left-overs in the fridge…maybe even add a litle crème fraiche to it? Now you’ve got me curious!
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Beautiful looking soup Eva – you made it look waaaay nicer than mine! I’m so surprised that the artichokes were expensive with you. $4?? That’s about €3. I paid about €1.50 for ~8 or 9 good sized roots. Too bad they’re a bit more pricey around your part of the world. It’s too bad you weren’t so keen on the artichokes themselves. I found them very innocuous, but I guess like anything – broccoli and so forth – they can’t be to everyone’s taste!
Thanks for the shout-out and well-done on a beautiful soup. Even if you weren’t 100% sold, I bet I would have loved it! 🙂
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I guess I was expecting something different, Charles; I found them innocuous as well. I didn’t see where are artichokes were from, probably somewhere far and hot, hence the expense! Thank you for the wonderful compliment!
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Not so far, or hot – they’re a relative of the sunflower, and my mother has the plant growing in her garden in fact, in rainy old England. She never picks them because I think that just encourages any, because a) the flowers are really pretty, and b) they’ll take over! They’re a bit like mint in that respect – very rampant if allowed to be.
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