We’ve been out searching for the first asparagus of spring with no luck.
We’ve seen a few strawberries, so we know the season is close….
So, I opted for sunchokes again.
They’re kind of a ‘cusp’ vegetable – late winter / early spring.
They have a fresh taste and are a wonderful change from the cruciferous vegetables that dominate winter.
And since I learned that they don’t need to be peeled they’re even easier.
Yes, I have fresh sage already, along with chives, garlic chives, oregano and marjoram.
Sautéed Sunchokes
Total time: 35 minutes
Ingredients:
- 3 – 4 sunchokes, aka Jerusalem artichokes
- 2 tbs butter
- 1 clove garlic
- 4 – 6 fresh sage leaves substitute 1 tbs dried
Instructions:
- Scrub sunchokes with a vegetable brush.
- Leave whole and put into a steamer basket over hot water.
- Steam 15 – 20 minutes or until barely tender when pierced with a sharp knife.
- When done remove and cut into 1/4″ (.6cm) slices.
- Mince garlic.
- Chop sage leaves if using fresh.
- Melt butter in nonstick skillet. Add garlic and sage and sauté 1 minute.
- Add sunchoke slices and sauté 5 – 10 minutes, until just starting to brown.
- Remove and serve.
I did a very foolish thing today.
I cleaned the stove…..
I’m talking about the wood-burner, the stove that heats the kitchen and helps heat the rest of the house and helps spread dust everywhere. (I had no idea heating with wood could be so dirty.)
I clean it every week or so all winter, but today I did the serious, final, end-of-the-season, take-out-all-the-ashes cleaning. (Normal winter cleaning means leaving a small bed of ashes to help start the next fire.)
Why is that foolish you wonder?
It’s like living in Minnesota and taking your winter coat to the cleaners before July 1.or cleaning and packing away the winter blankets or putting the snow shovel in the rafters.
A snowstorm within 3 days is inevitable.
I cleaned the stove last year in mid-March, after 2 weeks of warm weather. The rest of the spring was cold, rainy and miserable. I finally relented in early May when we had guests and lit a fire….. Which meant the weather improved promptly and I got to clean the stove again.
Anyway…. I just couldn’t bare the thought of finishing the spring cleaning, then lighting another fire and blowing dust everywhere.
If it gets cold again (bound to happen), well…. that’s what sweaters are for.
I cleaned the oven, too.
Mon mari doesn’t know it yet, but summer cooking has officially started. Get the grills out!
He hates it when I clean.
I’m submitting this dish to the Four Seasons Food Challenge hosted by Delicieux this month (alternate months at Eat Your Veg ) The theme is ‘Celebrate Vegetables’.
And also to Javelin Warrior’s Made with Love Mondays, a collection of ‘made from scratch’ recipes
I love your use of the word ‘cruciferous’ !!!! Made my day, actually !!
Never had them, but I definitely need to find some to try now!
We don’t clean our wood burning fireplace until July. I learned my lesson on that one long ago. And yes, they’re just as dirty as the wood stove. Or can be. Especially when the DH gets around it to ‘stir up the fire a bit.’ *sigh*
I have never made Jerusalem artichokes before, but I’ve seen them hanging about in stores and always thought I should give them a try. This is a deliciously simple preparation and thanks so much for sharing with Made with Love Mondays. Welcome to the series!
I think it’s hilarious that you can get sunchokes (a plant native to the very area of North America we live in) and we rarely see them sold in vegetables stores here. Of course, now, it’s too early – especially with the winter we’ve experienced this year. (We’ve been told that asparagus is going to be at least 6 weeks behind schedule this year.)
In “The Harrowsmith Salad Garden”, the authors, Turid Forsyth and Merilyn Simonds Mohr, suggest serving fresh dill with sunchokes to aid digestion. Admittedly, the few times I’ve managed to find sunchokes to try them, I haven’t served them with fresh dill and haven’t had any trouble digesting them. But fresh dill sounds like a great accompaniment.
You cleaned your oven?! As you have experience, will you come and clean ours? Pretty please?
Kate, glad to be of service LOL
nightsmusic, we have a fireplace, too – and same problem LOL. That hasn’t been cleaned yet. It’s mon mari’s job
Javelin Warrior, thanks…. Try these, they really are easy and delicious. Love the series!
Elizabeth, they are quite popular here, Too bad about the asparagus, Fresh dill, eh? Unfortunately, that’s not the same season. I won’t have dill until July and these are long done by then. It’s a self-cleaning oven – I refuse to own the other kind…..
Your ‘sunchokes’ look delicious! I love that name for them. I think Jerusalem artichokes is a name that can confuse people as they look so different from other artichokes. I also had not realised that they work without peeling. I must try this. Thanks for entering this perfect recipe into Four Seasons Food x