Jerusalem artichoke

There is a vegetable in the shops at the moment which I love, but which gets nowhere near as much attention as it deserves � possibly because people are frightened of it. It�s the Jerusalem artichoke.

Now these are not especially handsome vegies. But they are quite delicious, and make one of the best vegetable soups I have ever tasted.

They frighten people who have had a first encounter with them because they have a peculiar property: they induce extreme flatulence, which can be highly entertaining if you serve them at a dinner party � especially if your guests are a bit on the stuffy side.

But there is a solution to this problem: simply add 1 tsp of asafoetida powder, available from Indian supermarkets, to the cooking water for every 500g of artichokes. It works like a dream. But only, of course, if you are cooking them in water. Which I don�t.

Making a delicate soup from these vegies, which are always very reasonably priced � at the moment they are selling at around $6.99 a kg - is easy: peel 500g of Jerusalem artichokes, the fresher the better, and cut them into equal sized nuggets. Sweat these, in a heavy pot, in 70g unsalted butter for about 5 minutes. Then, add a litre of home-made chicken stock and simmer until the artichoke pieces are tender. Puree them, strain into a clean pot, season and serve with a swirl of cream stirred into the top of each portion and a good grind of pepper.