Artichoke Veloute.

With the artichoke picture comes a recipe for artichoke veloute. These are Jerusalem artichokes-"Jerusalem" is thought to have been derived from the word Girasole, describing the "Sunflower" genus The stems and foliage grow very high and take a lot of nourishment from the soil, so much so that I have taken to "Wild planting" and establishing colonies on common land where I can harvest them as needs must.

For four Portions

Peel and slice six or eight bulbs according to size, and gently sweat in a lidded pan with one roughly chopped onion and100 gms. of unsalted butter.
When soft to the point of breaking up, add 1 pt of chicken stock. Yeah--OK--use a cube if you must --Sigh ;-) and then out with the wand and blitz until smooth, No wand? Pass through a conical strainer or sieve. Season with salt and WHITE pepper, white pepper gives a nice warm spicyness to the product as opposed to the more aggressive heat from black varieties.
Bring to a simmer and adjust the consistency with 200 ml of double cream. Keep a little back to finish with a swirl on top. Shred a little chervil or parsley to pop in the middle of the cream swirl and there you go!
I used a pinch of madras curry powder once and was well pleased with the result, Try it and see.

Tip--If you intend to let the girasoles stand while prepping up, add a little lemon juice to keep them white.