Silken Sunchoke Soup Recipes

Steps:

• Soup: Roughly chop dark green leek stalks. In a heavy-bottomed pot over medium-low heat, melt 3 tablespoons butter; then add leeks. Smash and peel garlic cloves and add them to the pot. (If you're using a Vitamix to pureé the soup later, you can leave garlic skins on.) Continue to cook leeks and garlic until soft, stirring occasionally, 2-3 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over low heat, warm the water or stock.
• Roughly chop unpeeled sunchokes to a uniform size, about 1-inch pieces. Set aside. Meanwhile, tilt the pot with the leeks to pool the butter. Place bay leaves on top of the butter so they lightly fry for about 5 seconds. Then stir and continue sautéing until there is less popping coming from the pot, 2-3 more minutes.
• Ginger Oil: Slice unpeeled ginger into coins. Place in skillet over medium-high heat along with the oil. Heat until the ginger begins to fry, 2-3 minutes; fry for 1 minute, then turn off heat and set aside to cool. Once cool, store ginger and oil in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. (Ginger Oil can be made in advance; it will keep in jar, refrigerated, for two months.)When leeks are melted, remove from heat and season with a pinch of salt and stir. To the pot, add sunchokes and the warm water or stock. Turn heat to low and bring to a simmer. Once simmering, cook uncovered until the sunchokes are soft, 25-45 minutes. (Cooking time will depend on the freshness and water content of the sunchokes.)
• When the sunchokes are soft and break apart, discard the bay leaves before adding the contents of the pot to a blender. (If you're using a high-speed blender such as Vitamix, you can leave the bay leaves in.) Replace the lid and blend on low speed to combine the ingredients; then slowly increase the blender speed to medium for 30 seconds. Turn speed back to low, remove the cap, and add the butter one piece at a time, so it emulsifies into the soup. When all of the butter has been emulsified, place the cap back on and purée at high speed for 30 seconds. (Optional: Pour soup through a fine-mesh strainer or chinois back into the pot for a more refined texture.)
• Assembly: Taste soup and adjust seasoning. Ladle warm soup into bowls. Drizzle a spoonful of Ginger Oil on top and serve.

Steps:

• What To Do 1. Set a small pot of water over high heat and bring to a boil. Add lentils and pinch salt and simmer until lentils are just tender, about 15 minutes. Drain. 2. Meanwhile, make soup: Set a deep pot over medium heat and swirl in 2 tablespoons oil. Add onions, leeks, shallots, garlic and celery. Sweat until softened and translucent, 3-4 minutes. Add sunchokes and sweat until slightly softened, 1-2 minutes more. 3. Add enough stock to just cover vegetables and raise heat to high. Wrap spices and ginger in cheesecloth, secure with kitchen twine and add sachet to pot. Once soup comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium-high and simmer steadily until sunchokes are fork-tender, 20-30 minutes. 4. While vegetables simmer, assemble garnish: Peel and cut reserved sunchokes into ¼-inch dice. Set a medium pan over medium heat and swirl in remaining oil. Once hot, sauté diced sunchokes until tender and golden all over, about 5 minutes. 5. Mix sautéed sunchokes with cooked lentils, apples and chives. Season with salt to taste. Set aside. 6. Once vegetables have simmered, set a sieve over a large bowl and pour soup through to separate vegetables from stock. Discard sachet and reserve stock. In a food processor, purée vegetables until smooth. 7. Return puréed vegetables to pot and stir in enough stock to create a loose yet creamy consistency. Bring mixture back to a simmer and season with salt and white pepper to taste. 8. To serve, ladle soup into bowls and place a large spoonful of sunchoke-apple-lentil garnish in center of each bowl.

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook and stir the leek in the hot oil until translucent, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir the sunchokes, celery, carrot, and garlic into the leeks. Season the mixture with salt and pepper. Add the bay leaves and 1/2 bunch chopped tarragon. Increase the heat to high; cook and stir until the vegetables are hot, 2 to 3 minutes.
• Pour the vermouth into the pan; bring to a boil while scraping the browned bits of food off of the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Add the vegetable broth, reduce heat to medium-low, and bring the mixture to a simmer; cook until the vegetables are completely tender, about 30 minutes. Reserving a few sprigs for garnish, add the watercress to the soup; allow the watercress to wilt in the hot soup, about 5 minutes.
• While the soup simmers, melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms to the melted butter, season with salt and pepper, and cook until completely tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the remaining tarragon and set aside.
• Remove and discard the bay leaves. Reserve about 1/3 of the soup in a separate pot. Pour the other 2/3 of the soup into a blender in batches, filling the pitcher no more than halfway full. Holding the lid of the blender with towel, carefully start the blender, using a few quick pulses to get the soup moving before leaving it on to puree. Puree in batches until smooth and pour into the pot with the unblended portion. Serve in bowls, topping each with a large spoonful of the cooked mushrooms and a sprig of watercress.