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This puree was inspired by a dish we had at Alinea, during the most impressive meal we have ever been served. The dish that inspired us was lobster (butter-poached, we believe), served with lobster mousse, sunchoke puree, and sweet orange, all surrounded by the hyacinth aroma released by boiling water being poured over hyacinths in the larger bowl holding the smaller bowl of edible food. It was one of the most luxurious experiences we have ever had, and it entirely justified our weekend jaunt to Chicago for the sake of one meal at Alinea.
How can we bring the faintest suggestion of this wonderment back to our fundamentally time-pressed readers back home, we wondered. Well, not many people are going to cook lobster at home. That's just uncommon, for some reason. (We suspect most people are reluctant to experiment on spendy foods, and also squeamish about killing their own meats.) Likewise, putting together a dish of hyacinth aroma isn't very likely for most home cooks, intoxicating as it was. So, citrus and sunchokes remained.
Here is a pared down, but still completely delicious, ultra-simple side dish, pairing the lush simplicity of creamy sunchoke puree with the brightness of clementines, which we vastly prefer to oranges, anyways.
As for the garnish, well, all things are improved by homemade bacon. Recipe after the jump.
Clementine Sunchoke Puree
1 1/2 lbs sunchokes (a/k/a jerusalem artichokes)
3 tbsp heavy cream
Juice of 1 clementine (approximately 1/4 C)
A pinch of clementine zest, plus more for garnish
1 tsp argan oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Bacon to taste
Peel the sunchokes, chop them into 1 inch chunks, and simmer 10 minutes in salted water. Drain, then puree with all ingredients except argan oil and bacon.
Cut your bacon into little strips and fry it up. Remove it to drain on a paper towel covered plate.
Reheat the puree, and stir in the argan oil. Serve garnished with bacon and a pinch of zest.
Shopping Guide
You can occasionally find argan oil, which is a really fascinating Moroccan nut oil, at Sur La Table or Dean and Deluca in SoHo.
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what did you think of chicago? did you like our envrionmentally friendly alleyways as reported by the new york times?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/26/us/26chicago.html?pagewanted=all
also i hope you got a chicago hot dog afterwords (no ketchup!) as i heard alinea is kind of like eating a 12 course meal made entirely out of air.
also i hope you got a chicago hot dog afterwords (no ketchup!) as i heard alinea is kind of like eating a 12 course meal made entirely out of air.
Chicago hot dogs are disgusting. Aside from their rubbery texture ... it's less of a hot dog, and more of a salad in a bun, plus a hot dog. Why bother calling it a hot dog? Stupid. And their pizza? Back east we call it cheese casserole.
sounds and looks yummy. Is that your house cured bacon? I have just gotten into playing with pork belly, especially after finding out that the polish butchers in greenpoint sell it at will. No chunk is too small either. My local butcher wont sell it to me, claims he doesnt even have any in his store, the bastard.
My man Mike Royko summed up the abomonation that is new york style hot dogs with - of all things - ketchup.
" No, I won't condemn anyone for putting ketchup on a hot dog. This is the land of the free. And if someone wants to put ketchup on a hot dog and actually eat the awful thing, that is their right.
It is also their right to put mayo or chocolate syrup or toenail clippings or cat hair on a hot dog.
Sure, it would be disgusting and perverted, and they would be shaming themselves and their loved ones. But under our system of government, it is their right to be barbarians."
Matty - I thought Chicago was lovely. I thought my Alinea meal was plenty filling. And I'm a native New Yorker, so I eat my hot dogs with nothing but ketchup and sauerkraut, and damn proud of it. Yum.
SP - Sure is! Fun to make and oh so tasty.
that's ok. thanks for saying chicago was lovely. i think nyc is super great!
Mustard goes with sauerkraut. Ketchup goes with hamburgers. Sheesh.