Jerusalem Artichoke & Green Garlic Soup

There's a lot to find annoying about San Francisco. It's expensive, it's cold almost all the time, and boy do we have a high opinion of ourselves. But you can't beat the produce. R. and I visit markets whenever we travel, and the variety and quality of produce here is truly incredible.

And lo, according to the farmers markets, Spring is springing! A bit early for reliably good strawberries, but green garlic is here! And it's overlapping with lovely little Jerusalem artichokes.

I planned to roast the chokes, but then R. had to get his wisdom teeth pulled. And then I saw the green garlic. So, soup it was, with a little direction from the nice man at Knoll Farms.

We like our pureed soups with a little something to chew on, usually I add lentils or crumbled browned sausage, but I had some cremini mushrooms and thought the earthiness would work in this soup. I also used part stock/part water because I didn't want to overwhelm the vegetables with the flavor of chicken stock. If you're using canned broth, maybe go 100% broth.

The color might be off-putting for some, it's a dull pale green. But the flavors should help you get over that. If this soup didn't already have the cream and butter, I might spring for the pumpernickel croutons suggested in the Epicurious recipe below.

2 T butter
2 T olive oil
4-6 stems green garlic, thinly sliced, with green parts and white parts divided
4 spring onions or scallions, thinly sliced
1 lb. Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and diced
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 cups chicken stock + 1.5 cups water
3/4 cup cream
1/2 lb. cremini mushrooms, diced to ~1/4" pieces
1/4 t black pepper, finely ground

Melt half the butter and olive oil in a heavy pot on medium heat. Add the white parts of the green garlic, the scallions and the Jerusalem artichokes. Sprinkle with salt. Stir, cover and stew for ~10 minutes. Add the wine, increase heat to high and boil to reduce wine by half. Add the broth, simmer 20-25 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the remaining butter and olive oil on medium-high heat in a nonstick pan. Add the mushrooms and sprinkle with salt. Saute till the juices are released, allowing the mushrooms to brown slightly. Add the green garlic stems and saute ~1 minute longer. Turn off the heat.

When the the vegetables in the soup are quite soft, turn off the heat and puree using a hand blender. Turn heat to medium high and add the cream. Bring to a simmer and cook for approximately 3 minutes, until the cream is no longer raw-tasting. Add the mushroom mixture and black pepper, Stir, adjust salt, and serve.

Soup doesn't necessarily lend itself to wine, and artichokes will kill the flavor of most anyway, but these earthy flavors would work with a lighter-bodied Pinot Noir.

Riff references: RecipeSource, Riverford CSA, Epicurious