Sunchoke Soup with seared Scallops
Last weekend I went to the local farmers marked, the perfect place to find farm-fresh produce in season. It was here I found sunchokes, aka Jerusalem Artichokes, sunroots or earth apples.
You can eat the sunchokes raw in salads or cooked in soups and gratins. The raw sunchokes has a nutty taste, while the cooked are sweet with a slightly bitter aftertaste. Sunchokes has a high content of vitamin C and K.
I decided to make sunchoke soup, a creamy soup perfect for an appetizer, but filling enough to use as a main course.
Serves 4 as an appetizer or serves 2 for a main course.
Ingredients:
- 400 g sunchokes, peeled and chopped
- 300 g potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 3 dl (1¼ cup) whole milk
- 1 dl (little over ⅓ cup) cream
- 2 teaspoons chicken base
- 6 dl (2½ cup) water
- salt and white pepper, to taste
Topping:
- 6-8 scallops
- 2 tablespoons dry chorizo or paprika sausage, chopped and fried
- 3 teaspoon chives, finely chopped
- a few drops truffle oil
- sunchoke chips (1-2 sunchokes)
Directions:
Soup:
Cook the sunchokes and potatoes in milk, cream, chicken paste and water until tender. Blend the soup mixture in batches. If using a traditional blender remove the middle-nob so the steam can escape and cover with a kitchen towel so you will not burn yourself on soup splatters. Puree until smooth. Season the soup with salt and white pepper. Keep the soup hot while you sear the scallops.
Sunchoke chips:
While the sunchokes and potatoes are cooking. Brush 1-2 sunchokes clean. Slice the sunchokes very thinly into a bowl of ice water. Heat grape seed oil in a saucepan. Pad dry 3-5 slices and fry them in the hot oil until they turn golden. Let the excess oil drip off on some paper towel. Sprinkle with salt.
Scallops:
Heat some grape seed oil in a skillet and fry the scallops on high heat until golden on both sides. Just before removing scallops from the skillet, season them with salt and white pepper.
Pour the soup into a serving size bowl. Top the soup with 1-2 scallops and the rest of the topping.
Enjoy.