Sunchokes are also known as Jerusalem artichokes even though they don't resemble an artichoke at all. They are the tuber (root) from a type of sunflower. These knobby shaped chokes cook quickly and have a nutty flavor to them. Sunchokes are iron, potassium and thiamin, sunchokes are low in calories and high in fiber in the form of inulin. Eating too many can give you some gas so this recipe where there are pureed and cooked helps. You can enjoy this soup warm or cold. By finishing it with Bio-K+ Probiotic Beverage plus the inulin you are getting a really healthy dose of prebiotics and probiotics that your gut bacteria will love.
Sunchoke Soup with Cilantro Pesto
Serves 4-6
Vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, dairy free
Soup
400g sunchokes, peeled and chopped into large cubes. (roughly 2 cups chopped)
½ lb cauliflower, chopped
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, skin on
½ cup cashews, soaked for four hours and rinsed
1 tbsp white (shiro) miso
½ tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 l vegetable stock
Cilantro Pesto
1 cup, lightly packed, cilantro
¼ cup raw almonds
½ jalapeño pepper, seeded and chopped
1/8 tsp salt
zest of ½ lemon
1 tbsp lemon juice
¼ cup olive oil
To finish: Original Bio-K+ Fermented Drinkable Probiotic 
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. On a rimmed cookie sheet, toss sunchokes, cauliflower and garlic cloves with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast 25-30 min until cauliflower is golden at edges, watching carefully after 15 minutes so the garlic cloves don’t overcook. Take them out early if you need to.
3. Carefully slip roasted garlic cloves out of skin. Add roasted sunchokes and caulflower to food processor or high speed blender – in 2 batches if necessary – with garlic, cashews and enough stock to cover and puree until smooth.
4. Return soup mixture to pot on medium low heat. Stir in remaining stock, miso, thyme, cumin, and season to taste.
5. Meanwhile, puree all pesto ingredients together in a food processor or high speed blender.
6. Once soup is fully warmed through, ladle into bowls and swirl in a spoonful of the pesto and drizzle with Bio-K+ as a ‘cream’ topper. Alternatively you can serve this soup cool.
Photo Credit: Melissa Quantz
This recipe is courtesy of Bio-K+
