My friend Charles is an avid gardener. It’s a passion that he picked up from his parents at the age of 12, and which he plans to share with his young daughters in the coming years. Knowing this, you can imagine my surprise when I found out that he doesn’t eat much vegetables. I like to tease him about it.
Jerusalem artichokes (topinambours, en français) are one of his favourite and best performing crops. I love the nutty flavour and mild sweetness of this odd-looking, somewhat unpopular, root vegetable. If you’ve never tried it, you’re seriously missing out. Back in October, he offered to share with me some of his harvest in exchange for recipe ideas. As I’m not one to turn down vegetable donations (insanity!), we made a deal and I promised him a recipe on Craving Greens.
This jerusalem artichoke & thyme soufflé with aged cheddar is delicious, elegant, and would make an excellent brunch dish for the upcoming holidays. I’m sure Charles will agree!
Jerusalem Artichoke & Thyme Soufflé
- 2 pounds jerusalem artichokes (3 cups, puréed)
- 5 eggs, separated
- 1 cup aged cheddar, grated
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 small onion, minced
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme + more for garnish
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Olive oil
Drain and purée in a food processor until smooth. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
Add the grated cheddar, milk, minced onion, fresh thyme and salt. Stir to combine.
Note: This mixture is truly delicious as is. You could even stop right here and serve it as a side dish. Taste with self-control if you choose to proceed!
Preheat oven to 400F.
Separate the eggs. Add the egg yolks to the jerusalem artichoke mixture and stir to combine.
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.
Gently fold in the egg whites into the mixture.
Evenly divide the mixture into the greased ramekins, leaving some head space.
Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, until nicely risen and golden. Cooking time will vary depending on the size of ramekins used.
Serve topped with fresh thyme. Dig in!
Raechel
January 30, 2020Thanks for the recipe! I’m looking forward to trying it. Do you know if I can substitute a nut milk for the dairy milk? I make my own and was thinking hazelnut milk might pair well, but this will be my first souffle and unsure if I can do a straight 1:1 replacement. Thanks for your thoughts!
cravinggreens
January 30, 2020Hi Raechel, I don’t see why not! Hazelnut milk does sound like a nice pairing to the nuttiness of the Jerusalem artichokes. Let me know how it turns out!
Brad
April 4, 2020I planted my first Sunchokes 2 years ago and I wasn’t sure if they would grow well enough to be a food source where I live in the Northwest close to the Canadian border. I’ve seen so many articles about how they will grow like weeds if you let them, which I was hoping for. At the end of season 2 I wasn’t very hopeful because there were very few and very small. Well, much to my surprise in my third season the stories where true and I have several sunchoke patches that are about two feet across and four to five inches thick. So now I can try out all of the Delicious recipes I’ve been reading about and of course some I hope to create. I’m writing this to our fellow gardeners that are wondering if their Chokes will ever multiply enough to make some Delicious meals. With some patience and Love, you will be rewarded. Oh, one last thought, do be careful because they will take over your Garden.