Rosie Healey

Featured in Apartamento Cookbook #8: Tuber, or Not Tuber? along with chef Vadim Otto’s recipe: ‘Beetroot with Sloe Berry and Labneh’. Read an interview with Vadim Otto here.

Jerusalem artichokes were not ubiquitous when I was growing up in Glasgow, and they never made an appearance on our dinner table. To me, they still seem like a relatively recent and special root vegetable. They are normally an afterthought, either roasted or turned into a soup. However, the thing I like about using Jerusalem artichokes (other than their nutty truffle flavour) is that you can transform them into a bright, fresh salad, worthy of taking centre stage. We make this recipe in the restaurant in the winter months when these artichokes are in season, usually served as a starter or a side dish. Sometimes, we remove the parmesan and serve it with a white fish that has been roasted in the oven. It’s a very delicious combination.

METHOD (Serves 2 as a starter or 4 as a side dish)

Preheat oven to 160°C. Place the walnuts on a baking tray and roast for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and chop roughly, set them aside for later. Turn the oven temperature up to 180°C. Pick the rosemary leaves from the stalks and chop roughly. Peel the Jerusalem artichokes and cut them in half. It’s important to make the artichokes all the same size so they cook at the same time; some may need to be quartered. Place the artichokes in a bowl, and season with salt, pepper, a little olive oil, and the chopped rosemary. Put the artichokes in a small baking dish, making sure they are lying flat and not piled on top of each other. Add the white wine and cover the baking dish with tin foil. Pop in the oven for 40 minutes. The artichokes should be soft when they are cooked (like a potato). If they are not ready after 40 minutes, give them a little longer—you don’t want them to be crunchy! When the artichokes are ready, take them out of the oven and let them cool. When they are cool, place them in a bowl along with their juices, and add the chopped walnuts, the zest of one lemon, juice of half a lemon, a little olive oil and salt and pepper, and give them a mix. Shave in lots of parmesan with a potato peeler and add some ripped mint leaves. Give the salad a final, gentle mix, being careful not to break up the parmesan. Pile the salad onto a plate, add a final zest of lemon, the rest of the ripped mint leaves, and a little swirl of olive oil. Enjoy!