All the vegetables we use at Restaurant Chestnut are grown locally. Our Jerusalem artichokes are grown by our neighbour Joe in west Cork. This recipe is really simple and lets the ingredients speak for themselves. Try to find local growers near you, the difference in taste is incredible. We are very lucky as we can pick wood sorrel in a forest by our house, but you could substitute it with nasturtium or lamb’s lettuce.
In the restaurant, I use Broighter Gold virgin cold pressed hickory smoked infused rapeseed oil. You could substitute this with your favourite oil to drizzle at the end. The soup is extremely versatile and can easily be adapted to your taste by playing with herbs and fragrant oils.
Rob Krawczyk is a chef and owner of Restaurant Chestnut in Ballydehob, Co Cork.
Jerusalem artichoke soup with wood sorrel, hazelnuts and smoked oil
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
650g Jerusalem artichokes, scrubbed and washed
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp Broighter Gold smoked hickory rapeseed oil
500ml vegetable stock or chicken stock
1 small onion, finely diced
1 clove of garlic, chopped finely
Salt and pepper
Handful of hazelnuts
Wood sorrel, washed and dried
Method
1 To a large saucepan add the olive oil, onion and garlic. Crack in some pepper and a generous pinch of salt. Sweat down until the onions are soft on medium heat. Add the stock and bring up to the boil.
2 Chop the Jerusalem artichokes as fine as you can and add to the stock. Simmer until the Jerusalem artichokes are soft. This will take roughly 30-40 minutes on medium heat.
3 Remove the saucepan from the heat and let cool for five minutes.
4 Add the contents of your pot to a food processor. Blend until smooth.
5 To serve: Place your soup in a warm bowl. To garnish, add your hazelnuts at the centre of the bowl, as many or as little as you wish. Top with wood sorrel. To finish, add a few drops of smoked oil, or olive oil if you do not have smoked oil.
Kitchen Cabinet is a series of recipes for Food Month at The Irish Times from chefs who are members of Euro-Toques Ireland, in support of Ireland’s food producers. #ChefsMeetProducers.
