Makes: 10 portions. Cooking time: 10-15 minutes.
Ingredients:
— 1 kg prepared Jerusalem artichokes
— 2½ liters prepared blanch
Method:
(1) Place the prepared Jerusalem artichokes into the gently simmering blanch, cover with a muslin cloth until they are cooked.
(2) Remove the saucepan from the stove and allow the artichokes to remain in the blanch until required.
Note:
When cooked the artichokes should be firm to the touch and rather transparent in appearance.
Assessment of the completed dish
(1) The artichokes should be cooked yet relatively firm to the touch.
(2) They should not be fibrous or stringy.
(3) They should be a pleasant off-white color.
(4) There should be no flavor of lemon apparent.
Possible problem, cause and solution:
(1) Artichokes are of poor color
— vegetable of poor quality when purchased; care must be taken to purchase only the best quality products to avoid problems at later stages which cannot be rectified.
— kept under poor storage conditions before cooking; care must be taken to store vegetables correctly to avoid problems at a later stage which cannot be rectified.
— once peeled the vegetable was not immediately put into water and lemon juice; care must be taken not to leave the peeled vegetable exposed even for a short time to avoid this problem at a later stage which cannot be rectified.
— insufficient lemon juice used in the blanch; care must be taken to prepare the blanch correctly as this problem cannot be rectified later.
— once cooked the vegetable was removed from the liquid and retained dry; care must be taken to follow the correct procedure for retention to avoid this problem which cannot be rectified.