loveSicily

In and out of fashion: when patacchi become topinambur

For many years "Patacchi" (Jerusalem artichokes), now known with the more elegant name of "topinambur", were a mysterious ingredient to me. I knew they existed, but neither my grandmothers nor other people in the family ever cooked with them.

I remember negative remarks and suspect it reminded them of war times, it was a "poor" ingredient and simply rather not use them. I do not even remember cook books or magazine mentioning topinambur during the 1980s or the 1990s, they were simply a "non-fashionable" ingredient.

Suddenly, few years ago "patacchi" got back into fashion, famous chefs started using them and you now find them in fancy menus and food magazines. Quite often they feature as a creamy base for a meat or fish dish, in soups or as special crisps.
My two grannies would not believe their eyes!

When I cooked them for the first time, I was positively surprised and understood why the English name as a reference to artichokes. They have a subtle taste of artichokes, which I like very much, and a great texture. No wonder great chefs brought them back into their kitchen!
Now I often use them in fancy recipes as well, but often prefer simpler homey recipes like the one I made yesterday, just cooking them with potatoes and sausage. A perfect dish for the first cold evening of the season in Sicily.

Written on
November 25, 2010
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