Neither from Israel nor Artichokes

Jerusalem Artichokes, or sunchokes as they are sometimes less confusingly called, look like knobby potatoes, or perhaps tumor ridden turnips. Choose your imagery. Surprisingly, or un-surprisingly if you've been watching me cook with the weird veggies all year, these knobby ugly things, like most root vegetables, seem to have only 2 or 3 successful and suggested methods of preparation. You can roast them. You can boil and mash them. You can make them into chips or fries, or pancakes. Boring Boring Boring. Tubers are Boring. There isn't much I can say about that. However, the Sunchoke does have one unique trick that the other tubers do not. They take very well to being stir fried. Almost like a water-chestnut but more bendy. And although I find stir fry's to be as un-original a way to get rid of veg as making a salad, I realize I had not yet created one for you on this blog. Also, I found a recipe with some pretty interesting techniques. So who am I to resist. Let's get stir-crazy.

Week 20, Box 20 and an Appology

So for the first time in 20 weeks it looks like I honest to god missed a recipe post. The truth is last week was just about the worst week thus far luck wise. I was sick, The Husband then got sick and then over the weekend I had to take my grandfather to the hospital. So over all even though I got The Box, took pictures and even cooked and took pictures of two full recipes, I just never got around to posting. I apologize. If you were wondering I made 2 dishes, the first was Macaroni and Cheese with Swiss Chard, which was a variant of THIS recipe. To modify it I gave the chard a quick chiffonade, blanched it and squeezed the water out. I then mixed it in with the final product just like the recipe calls for mixing in the broccoli. It was a little bit of a cheat recipe, we wanted comfort food, and when that comfort food is mac and cheese you always feel better adding some green to it.

The other recipe I made was baked potato soup. I followed the recipe found HERE to the letter. It was easy, delicious, didn't require an excessive amount of milk fat and exactly the thing The Husband needed in his sickness. Also a fantastic way to use up a TON of potatoes. Yum.

This week I am hopeful that things will go more smoothly. I am pleased with the ingredients that came in The Box. They will prove some challenges but also some comfort items. Let me show you: