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Potato-Topinambour (Jerusalem Artichoke) Soup

Jerusalem Artichoke or Topinambour Potato Soup

For the past couple of weeks, the blog was under attack from spam comments from car loans to acne cream to penis extensions. For a new blogger with basic IT knowledge, this is catastrophe. I lay awake at night knowing some bot somewhere out there is posting nasty comments which I will wake up to receiving. For countless weeks, DH and I have been busy learning how to block spams, the blight of the earth and a total waste of energy. I think we have somewhat solved it by asking for authentication. So, we’ll see.

Tonight, we came up with a variation of the potato soup that we love. This soup definitely falls into the category of “Comfort Soup”. And boy, do we need it!

These knobbly looking tubers are called Topinambour (taup-pin-nam-bore) or Jerusalem Artichoke in English. I guess because the shape resembles baby artichokes. They’re sold all year round in the markets in Paris. I’ve always looked at them and wondered what they were and what they tasted like. The woman in front of us today bought 1kg of topinambour. So, I jumped in and asked for 500g of the same.

Topinambour or Jerusalem Artichoke Soup

Ingredients:

  • 500g topinambours
  • 500g potatoes like Russet
  • 1 medium onion
  • 2 cup of stock
  • Water
  • 15g butter
  • 1 cup of milk
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • grated cheese (optional)
    • Optional: Herb Croutons:
  • 4 cups of bread
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon of dried oregano
  • salt and pepper

    • To make the croutons: heat the oven to 180deg C. Cut the bread into cubes of 1 inch.
    Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper and oregano.
    Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

    Finely dice the onions.
    Peel the potatoes and the topinambour. Cut the potatoes and the topinambour into small cubes about 2cm. Keep them separated.

    In a saucepan, heat the butter. Cook the onions until they are translucent. Do not brown.
    Put the potatoes in and stir to coat with the butter. Add the stock and water. Bring to boil. Lower the heat to a simmer. Keep covered and simmer for 10 minutes.
    Add the topinambour and simmer covered for another 10 minutes.
    Turn off the heat, add the milk and blend in a blender or hand-held immersion blender until it’s smooth.
    Serve with herb croutons and grated cheese if desired.

    Verdict: My verger or green grocer told me that torpinambours was the poor person’s food during the war, because potatoes were scarce and expensive. He says to buy torpinambours when they are firm because that is when they are at their best. For fresh torpinambours, we can peel the skin and eat them as salads. I had a thin slice of the torpinambours as I was peeling them. It has a mild taste and is crunchy like a water chestnut.

    Posted by lpc on November 19, 2006 10:38 PM |

    Comments

    I cannot wait for my new kitchen stove to make this soup, Ginny, and those Brownies are going right into the oven. Months away. C'est fromage, Ginny.

    Posted by: Cathy T. | November 22, 2006 10:35 AM

    Can't wait for you to get your new kitchen stove too! You'll be having lots of fun cooking again. :-)
    This soup is so easy peasy... perfect for warming up quickly in winter.

    Posted by: LPC | November 22, 2006 10:51 AM

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