Sunchoke & Sweet Potato Soup with Green Garlic Pesto

HomeClinics & ProgramsELLICSR KitchenSunchoke & Sweet Potato Soup with Green Garlic Pesto

Skill Level	Easy

Preparation Time	10 minutes	Total Time	40 minutes
Servings	6	Cost Per Serving	$1.48

2 lbs (about 4 cups)	Sunchokes (also known as Jerusalem Artichokes), roughly chopped
2	Medium Sweet Potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
1 cup	Leek, rinsed well and roughly sliced
2 cloves	Garlic, crushed
2 L	Vegetable Stock (homemade without salt or with non-iodized coarse salt)
1 tbsp	Grape Seed Oil
To taste	Non-Iodized Coarse Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Green Garlic Pesto

1 cup	Green Garlic (or Green Onion), roughly chopped
1/2	Lemon, juice and zest
2 tbsp	Pumpkin Seeds
4 tbsp	Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Add oil to a large pot over medium heat. Once oil begins to shimmer, add leeks and garlic and cook gently until softened, about 5 minutes.
Add chopped sunchokes and sweet potato. Cover with stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for about 30 minutes or until potatoes and sunchokes are soft.
Puree until smooth with a hand blender or after carefully transferring to a stand blender. Season to taste.
For the pesto, add garlic, lemon juice, zest, and pumpkin seeds to a food processor. Pulse while slowly adding in the olive oil until smooth. Add a spoonful of pesto to each bowl of soup.

PDF link to nutrition facts table for Sunchoke & Sweet Potato Soup with Green Garlic Pesto

Iodine is a mineral that is essential for good health – but we don’t need much. The average adult gets all the iodine they need from a balanced diet.
Although the average adult gets 550 mcg of iodine per day, the low-iodine diet requires people to limit their iodine intake to 50 mcg or less per day. In Canada, iodine is added to table salt. One teaspoon of iodized table salt contains 380 mcg of iodine. Sea salt is also high in iodine, but non-iodized coarse salt can be used by people on a low-iodine diet.
Whether your doctor has put you on a low-iodine diet or you are trying to reduce your sodium intake, you will need to avoid salty foods and most condiments and sauces. Try adding flavour to meals with ingredients such as onion and leeks which may reduce your risk of stomach cancer, and garlic, which has been shown to lower risk of colorectal cancer.