choked without the sun.

late fall is the time of delicious roots. they have quietly taken their time to develop within a similar darkness that we'll all live in soon.

although jerusalem artichokes are supposed to be unearthed after the first frost, we dug them out already well over a week ago. such is life divided between the country and the city.

the beautiful yellow flowers decorated a field of greenery – sunchokes are quite prolific and have taken over a large patch behind the cherry and apple trees.



we dug the clumsily knobby roots into a bucket and continued to the time-consuming project of washing and peeling them.



but what delicacy were we in for. having little sister over for sunchoke purée and fried baltic herring was one culinary bliss with the added bonus of catching up.

for the purée you'll need a saucepan full of peeled jerusalem artichokes. you can boil them in vegetable stock or water, however you prefer. boil until soft, pour stock out of saucepan (leave a tablespoon), mash with a fork or a blender, add butter and a little full fat milk, salt and white pepper to taste.



with the same recipe, but by keeping a tad more of the vegetable stock and instead of butter and milk add a few spoons of cream and some cheese (i prefer koskenlaskija, a processed cheese which despite the name is less processed than most cream cheeses on the market, go figure...), you'll get a rich, flavorful soup.

i know it sounds strange, but i prefer cream in my soup and milk in my mash. dunno. up to you, really.

heaven on a plate, i promise.