Happy Christmas everyone! I hope you are having a wonderful time ! I am finally at home in Germany, looking forward to a few days of fun with family and friends and most importantly some delicious food ! I already got to sample lots of lovely Christmas menues and some of Germany’s finest Christmas Market delights.  If only we had the weather to go with everything, it feels a little like Christmas in Spring. But We can’t have everything, can we ?

As a post Christmas lunch idea I thought I’d make a light and quick jerusalem artichoke soup garnished with sweet potato and parsnip crisps.  Jersusalem artichokes have an especially lovely nutty flavour and they are so versatile, you can roast them, mash them or grate them raw and spinkle over your winter salad or greens. Due to their high iron content jerusalem artichokes oxidise very quickly,  so it is important to add some lemon juice when preparing them to prevent them from turning brown.

These little knobbley tubers are a rich source of fiber and provide us with potassium, iron and copper as well as some vitamin C, A and E, so you do not only get a rich flavour, you get a good portion of antioxidants too.

To round off the flavour I like to add parsnips or potatoes to the mix and the parsnip and sweet potatoe crisps give an extra crunch and a dash of colour. This is also a perfect left over soup, you can use up roast parsnip or potato from Christmas lunch. If you don’t have jerusalem artichokes at hand over the Christmas holidays, you can use your left over roast vegetables and make Irma’s fishcakes, they are super delicious with a nice green salad- the perfect post Christmas meal. But let’s look at what you need for the soup:

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Sweet potato and Parsnip Crisps- serves 2-3

500g jerusalem artichokes  ( peeled and cut into slices)
1-2 small parsnips (peeled and cut into slices)
1 medium sized shallot ( finely chopped)
1 medium sized garlic cloves ( finely chopped)
1 tbsp coconut oil
500 ml vegetable or chicken stock
1-2 tbsp  coconut cream
White pepper, a pinch of salt and a pinch of coconut sugar to taste
A dash of lemon juice

For the crisps:
1 small sweet potato
1 medium sized parsnip
1-2 tsp coconut oil
Sea salt, chili flakes OR Ras El Hanout spice

Start preparing the crisps, by peeling parsnip and sweet potato, then using the peeler create very thin strips of parsnip and sweet potato. Pre-heat the oven at 100 C, warm up the coconut oil,  massage oil and spices into the strips and spread out on a with parchment paper covered roasting tray. You can just use coconut oil & a little bit of salt if you do not like spiced crisps. Bake at 100C until crips. Keep an eye on them and turn if needed as they may burn otherwise. Once nice and crispy leave to cool and store in an airtight container.

Whilst the crisps are baking in the oven, prepare the vegetables, peeling and slicing the artichokes and parsnips, keep the peeled artichokes covered with water with a dash of lemon, this will also prevent them from oxidsing. Next finely chop garlic and shallots, heat the coconut oil in a saucepan and sauté  for a few minutes. Next add jerusalem artichoke and parsnip slices and sauté for a further few minutes.

Now add hot chicken or vegetable stock, just enough to cover the vegetables and simmer at a low heat until tender.  Once cooked, drain half the stock and add a dash of lemon juice. Now start blending the soup, gradually adding more stock if needed and towards the end add the coconut cream , continue blending until you get a nice and smooth consistency. To taste season with salt, white pepper and a little bit of coconut sugar.

Serve sprinkled with parsnip and sweet potato crisps and some freshly baked multi seed bread. Pumpernickel granola  or roast hazelnuts also gives a nice crunch.

Bon Apetit and have a very Merry Christmas.

Dix