I had never had a sunchoke before, and I have to say I was a bit skeptical. Sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem artichokes, are actually a part of the sunflower family! This knobby little tuber almost looks like a ginger root, but they taste like a cross between a delicious, buttery artichoke and a potato. In short, if you haven't tried them, I'd highly recommend them! If you're looking to buy them locally, they're apparently native to the Eastern United States (which may explain why I hadn't encountered them in California). The color on the skin can vary from brown to red, or even purple. Ours were red, which I've read have a more buttery, nutty flavor than those with light brown skins.
What You'll Need
8-10 small sunchokes
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and cut in half
1 tablespoon olive oil (plus more, as needed)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Leaves from 2 sprigs fresh thyme
What You'll Need to Do
Preheat the oven to 425°F.
Before slicing, you'll need to scrub the sunchokes under cold running water, since you'll be leaving the skin on. Slice the sunchokes about 1/4-inch thick. The exact thickness isn't important, but you want them to be as uniform as possible so that they'll cook evenly.
Add the sunchokes and garlic to a small bowl and toss with olive oil (add slightly more than 1 tbsp if needed, until pieces are lightly coated). Sprinkle in the salt and herbs, and toss to coat the sunchokes. Then transfer to a baking sheet or roasting pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the sunchokes are tender inside, like a potato.
Other tips and tricks:
For easy clean up, I like to line my pan with parchment paper.
You can also use dried herbs instead of fresh. When preparing these for the second time around, I used 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme and 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary. I also mixed things up: using about half red sunchokes and half "brown." I thought they were equally delicious!
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