Jerusalem Artichoke Soup

What's a girl to do when the weather outside is beastly and the rain's coming down in buckets? Make a batch of soup, of course! For X-mas, Mr.S.'s mother gave me a big book of soup recipes. I've been pouring over the colorful photographs of drool worthy soups for a couple of months now but haven't had the time to whip up anything from it's pages yet. Today though, I decided to give the Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Saffron and Thyme a go. Feeling a little bit creative, I decided to jazz up the original recipe by throwing in some smoked paprika and topping it with onion crisps. Yum!

(Also, the nice thing about this soup is that it makes a big batch and you can freeze the leftovers.)


Jerusalem Artichoke Soup

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil

2 medium yellow onions, chopped

3-4 garlic cloves, chopped

12 oz. Jerusalem artichokes (also called sunchokes), scrubbed and coarsley chopped

12 oz. carrots, scrubbed and coarsely chopped

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1/2 - 1 tsp smoked paprika

1.2 quarts hot vegetable stock

1.5 tbsp fresh thyme leaves or 1.5 tsp dried thyme

large pinch (about 30 strands) of saffron

juice of 1/2 lemon

onion crisps or parmesan croutons


Instructions

- Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat, add the onions and cook for 5-10 minutes or until soft and translucent.

- Add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds or until fragrant.

- Stir in the sunchokes, carrots and a little salt, then cover with a lid and sweat, stirring frequently, for 10-15 minutes or until the vegetables are softened.

- Add the stock, thyme, saffron and smoked paprika.

- Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes or until the vegetables are throughly soft.

- Cool briefly, then process until smooth in a blender.

- Stir in the lemon juice and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

- Serve in warm bowls, with some onion crisps or parmesan croutons on top.