Spectacular Sides: Roasted Sunchokes with Garlic, Lemon Pepper, Honey & Thyme
Sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem artichokes, kind of remind me of potatoes, but are much nuttier and a bit sweeter. When roasted, they have that same comfort food feel as roasted potatoes, but with an oomph of complexity that makes you feel fancy. They're kinda crazy-looking; you might walk past them at the store thinking they're fresh ginger root. And their texture, when raw, almost reminds me of yucca root. You can do all the reading you want about this zany root vegetable, but really, you should probably just trust me and make this lovely side dish.
I did a little social media crowd-sourcing and found out that Whole Foods and Lakewinds Co-op (Minnetonka) both carry them. I haven't noticed them elsewhere, but also haven't specifically been looking. If you have seen them elsewhere, tweet @MinneappleEats to share!
Anyway, both stores carry local and organic sunchokes, yay! I will say they're at a higher price point than potatoes, fo' sho. But sometimes you gotta splurge, right? Right. Meat and potatoes can get old reeeeal quick, so consider this your supper-time shake-up. I served these as a side to this awesome Fish in Caper Lemon Sauce recipe.
Roasted Sunchokes with Garlic, Lemon Pepper, Honey & Thyme
Serves: 2-4 as a side
Preparation Time: 45-60 minutes
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. sunchokes, ends trimmed and cut into 1/2-in. slices
2 tbsp. olive oil
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 tbsp. honey
3 cloves of garlic, minced
lemon pepper, to taste (I like to buy it in a grinder at Trader Joe's)
1 tbsp. butter, diced into tiny chunks
several sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves fremoved from stems
salt, to taste
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place sliced sunchokes in a baking dish. Whisk olive oil, lemon juice, honey, garlic and lemon pepper in a small bowl until well mixed. Pour over sunchokes in baking pan and stir well. Distrubute butter chunks evenly amongst the sunchokes and top with fresh thyme.
2. Place in oven and roast until sunchokes are golden in some spots, about 30-45 minutes. Stir halfway through the roasting time to ensure even cooking. Once done, sprinkle with a pinch of salt. If you're planning on lunch leftovers...you might also want to have a plan B.
Now that you're addicted, some other fun sunchoke recipes:
Roasted Sunchokes with Truffle Oil: Same recipe as above but swap some of the olive oil for truffle oil, a light vinegar (such as white wine or rice) for the lemon juice, garlic salt for the lemon pepper. This is one of my favorite ways to prepare sunchokes.
Sunchoke-Kale Hash with Farro from Food & Wine
Roasted Sunchokes with Buttery Bagna Cauda from Food & Wine
Easy Winter Recipe: Roasted Sunchokes from The Kitchn
Pan-Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Oyster Mushrooms and Sunchokes with Creamy Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette from Tasting Table
