Yield: 4

CKBK

This soup is a specialty of Café Lomi chef Mardi Hartzog. A favorite menu item on a winter day at the café, this is also an easy soup to prepare at home.
Jerusalem artichokes aka Sunchokes have a wonderful creamy texture, and an earthy, nutty flavor that blends perfectly with luxurious truffle oil.

Note: I have no idea what the floater is.

For vegetable stock:

• 1TBS extra-virgin olive oil
• 1yellow onion, peeled and halved
• 1medium carrot, washed and halved
• 1stalk celery, peeled and halved
• ½leek, coarsely chopped
• 9cups water
• 2tsp fine sea salt
• 1tsp black pepper

For soup:

• 2TBS butter
• 1medium onion, chopped
• 1clove garlic, diced
• 2lb sunchokes, peeled and chopped (quickly blanching sunchokes before peeling them makes the skin much easier to remove)
• 6cups vegetable stock
• salt and pepper
• few drops truffle oil

Prep:

Bring a large stock pot of water to a boil. Blanch sunchokes for 30-60 seconds. Remove, set aside to cool. Discard water.

Vegetable stock:

Heat olive oil in the large stock pot. Sauté onion until translucent; add other vegetables, and sauté until they are sweating and cooked, 8-10 minutes. Add water and bring to a boil. Add salt and pepper and cook on medium heat for another 5-10 minutes, until broth has taken on the flavor of the vegetables. Strain and set liquid aside to use in soup.

Soup:

In a medium-sized pot over medium heat, melt butter and sauté onion and garlic until barely translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add sunchokes and vegetable stock. Let simmer about 30-40 minutes or until sunchokes are soft when you poke them with a fork.

Remove and reserve 2 cups of stock.

Blend with an immersion blender until smooth. Check the texture. Add and blend in reserved stock until the desired consistency is obtained.

Add salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.