Roasted Jerusalem Artichokes/Sunchokes

One of the several books I received at Christmas was called "Bought, Borrowed, Stolen".  

It has some interesting recipes, and some not so interesting ones.  But what caught my eye was a piece that said the author had learnt in a restaurant in San Francisco (what a coincidence) that artichokes could be cooked and eaten with the skin on, and they taste better.  Now I have to confess that steamed artichokes have never rated very high on my flavour scale.  Realtively speaking they make zucchini seem like taste bombs.  So I was interested in trying this.  Results below.

Washed and scrubbed artichokes.

Rubbed with sunflower oil and salted with kosher salt

Then roasted in a 350F oven for about 30 minutes till the skins are crisp and the centres are soft.

They were quite tasty!  A definite improvement on the steamed version.


There is only one problem with these vegetables, they contain a lot of inulin which is a fructose based carbohydrate which humans have difficulty digesting as we are lacking the natural enzyme to break them down.  So according to the gospel of Mr McGee  "On Food and Cooking"  the "beneficial bacteria in our intestines feed on them instead, in the process generating carbon dioxide and other gases that can cause abdominal discomfort."  You have been warned!