12.28.2007

potato-style sunchoke salad

My mother is mostly Irish. We had some form of potato - mashed, baked, boiled, friend - at least 4 nights a week when I was a kid. To mom, my nightshade allergy is a tragedy - what's worse, I got it from her! She's been able to tolerate nightshades pretty well for most of her life, except eggplants and peppers, but her allergy has gotten worse. Poor mom has had to cut back on potatoes!

I'm okay with this (sweet potatoes are soooo much tastier than their starchy nightshadey counterpart), but my mother misses her potato dishes. A customer of hers recommended Sunchokes (Jerusalem Artichokes), so we tried them on Thanksgiving. We mashed them and threw in a good deal of vinegar and dijon mustard - delicious! but not too potatoey. So the goal for Christmas dinner was to imitate all those mayonaise-drenched potato salads of my mother's childhood.

I washed 'em (aren't they cute?),
sliced 'em
and boiled 'em until tender (apparently I didn't wash 'em too well, though - look at the scuzz on the righthand side! ew).
the water turned a deep yellow color...
but they stayed pale!

With the addition of 2-3 large spoonfuls of Vegenaise, several TBSP apple cider vinegar, parsley, diced onion and celery, we had a delicious Potato-Style Sunchoke Salad:


Mom was very happy. After this, though, I want to try some sunchoke recipes that don't try to disguise the sunchokes. They're so tasty!

I've heard cassava/yuca/manoic is another really good - and convincing - replacement for potato. Maybe I'll give that a try soon...

4 comments:

Rural Vegan said... Best Blogger Tips

I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't eat potatoes. I absolutely love them! Congrats on finding a replacement for your mom though, what a great idea!

bazu said... Best Blogger Tips

happy new year!

Like you, I tried sunchokes for the first time on Thanksgiving- and loved them! I like the idea of a sunchoke potato salad- seems like the perfect substitute. They make really good creamy yet light soup, too.

Anonymous said... Best Blogger Tips

my nightshade allergy has gotten so bad that i can't even LOOK at a potato without hittin' the floor!
ive been experimenting with sunchokes as potato replacements. you can make them like potato chips, and i just finished making a wonderful sunchoke-white bean puree soup.

sunchoke salad here i come :)

Anonymous said... Best Blogger Tips

i was browsing the internet for a good sunchoke salad recipe and when this popped up, i read it and was amazed, this was exactly what i needed!!