Seasonal Sunchoke Soup
One of the fun things about diving into a local market, wherever you live, is learning about the lesser known produce that doesn’t make it to larger grocery stores. Here in Texas, we have an excellent climate for growing sunchokes, a member of the sunflower family that grows edible tubers. While many people may recognize the bright yellow flower of the plant, few are familiar with the tasty tubers.
Sunchoke soup with GF croutons and fresh almond milk drizzle
Multiple of our producers are now bringing sunchokes to the market, as they are generally in season around January and February. One vendor, Plant it Forward, provided a sunchoke based recipe for customers to better understand how to utilize it. Today, I’ve stuck closely to this recipe, and made a few changes here and there to take advantage of other in-season produce and what is available at the market.
Something I want to encourage throughout these recipe posts is ingredient flexibility. In order to really utilize your local produce and cook seasonally, you need to be flexible when possible. Lastly, using what you already have on hand, not only helps reduce waste, but helps you become a more resourceful and creative cook!
Full bowl of sunchokes
Here’s a run down of the lovely vendors you can source from to create this recipe!
Plant it Forward works with independent, professional farmers with refugee backgrounds to grow and distribute fresh produce throughout the community. At our market locations we work with farmer Materanya “Pierre” Ruchinagiza, who is originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Each market he brings delicious vegetables and good conversation. He’s an amazing asset to the markets and his farming knowledge is invaluable!
Animal Farm is a working, sustainable permaculture center located 65 miles west of Houston. They are dedicated to producing high quality certified organic vegetables and flowers. They sell at our markets, but also have a wonderful CSA program!
Regen Ranch is a woman owned and run ranch in Oakwood, Texas. With the goal of providing clean food, Christine sells grass fed beef & lamb, pasture raised turkey, and farm fresh eggs.
Wood Duck is an 87 acre farm, located in Cleveland, Texas. They have a thriving CSA program and have been providing healthy produce to the community for years. Wood Duck is actually in the process of fighting a proposed landfill in San Jacinto County, visit this website to learn more about how you can help!
Leven Baking Company is a gluten-free baking company guided by health and nutrition made by hand and heart. Their gluten-free recipes are prepared with nutritious whole grains, natural ingredients, and we use organic whenever possible.
Share the love! Don’t forget to share photos and tag the vendors who provided the ingredients! One of the best ways to support these local, small businesses is by spreading the word and sharing your market finds with friends and family. And of course, if you stop by the Rice Village or Heights Mercantile markets striking up conversations with the vendors will always have you walking away with wonderful recipe ideas.
Ingredients for sunchoke soup
Ingredients - * indicates item purchased at the farmers market
*1 lb. sunchokes
*1/4 cup olive oil
*1 medium yellow onion
*2 russet potatoes
*6 cups broth - I used a mixture of beef bone broth and vegetable stock I previously made with my kitchen scraps. You can also use water instead or as part of the total quantity if you don’t have enough broth.
*1-2 cups almond milk or any desired milk
*Leven Bakery crutons
2-3 bay leaves
3-5 cloves of garlic - smashed
Pinch of chili flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
Note: You can add winter squash to this recipe if desired. You may have some leftover from something else that you need to use, or it may be calling to you at the market like it did to me!
Method
Heat the oil in a large soup pot over high heat
The skins of the sunchokes and potatoes are edible, so simply scrub under running water to clean before chopping. If you are utilizing a winter squash, peel the skin before chopping.
Add the chopped sunchokes, potatoes, onion, and optional winter squash. Sauté for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the garlic chili flakes, and continue cooking until the vegetables are lightly browned.
Add the broth or water, the bay leaves, and 1 teaspoon salt. Bring the mixture to a boil then lower the heat to low
When the soup comes to a simmer, cover and cook for 20-30 minutes or until the potatoes and sunchokes are tender
Remove the bay leaves and then process the soup either with an immersion blender, or in a blender in small batches (filling no more than a third of the container), until smooth
Add salt and pepper, as desired
Drizzle with milk and top with crutons
We hope to see you at the 1st and 3rd Sunday at Rice Village Farmers Market or 2nd and 4th Sunday at Heights Mercantile Farmers Market. Both markets run from 9-1 pm, with Heights located at 714 Yale St. and Rice located at 2504 Amherst St. These markets operate rain or shine! We will have over 60 vendors, live music, and immaculate vibes.
Thank you for following along and supporting local!
xxCB