Jerusalem artichoke broth with truffle dumplings: recipe

Sean Keating's Jerusalem artichoke broth with truffle dumplings.

Sean Keating is the chef at The Terrace restaurant in Launceston. Here he shares one of his vegan recipes.
The first two parts of this recipe can be made the day before.

Thyme stock
750ml of filtered water
Two thirds of a bunch of thyme
2 sticks of celery, 2cm dice
1 celeriac, peeled and diced to 2cm
1 lemon, diced
3 baby onions, peeled and left whole
6 fennel seeds
3 fenugreek seeds

Place all ingredients except thyme in a non-reactive pot and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and let it tumble for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and drop in your thyme. Allow to steep for 30 minutes
Strain and set aside.

Jerusalem artichoke broth
500g of Jerusalem artichoke, peeled and sliced
3 tbspns hazelnut oil
3 cloves of organic garlic, peeled and sliced fine
One third of a bunch of thyme, leaves only
Maldon smoked salt to taste (critical in this recipe that this is the only salt used for flavouring)
Rice milk
Thyme stock
1 tablespoon of Nuttelex

Gently saute garlic and thyme in hazelnut oil. When garlic has softened add Jerusalem artichoke. Now add rice milk so it sits about 1cm under the line of Jerusalem artichoke. Top up with thyme stock.
Gently bring to the boil and reduce heat to tumble. Add Nuttelex and cook to softened texture but do not let the artichokes go mushy. Blitz with a stick blender and strain through a fine sieve.
Set aside, it’s a great job to get out the way the day before

On the DAY

Truffle dumplings
300g of Sebago potatoes
100g of plain flour
50 g of Nuttelex
20 g of fine chopped truffle
Maldon smoked salt to taste (you must grind this before it goes into you dumpling mix)
Ground green peppercorns
Rock salt

Set an oven to 160C. Place Sebago potatoes on bed of rock salt and bake till tender. Remove from oven and split potatoes in half and scoop out flesh. Press this through a ricer or fine sieve; ensure there are no lumpy bits.

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Sift the flour twice. Place it, the Nuttelex, a grind of green peppercorns and the truffle on a bench, forming a well in the centre. Add the warm potato and knead this gently into a dough. Now you may need a little more flour but try to be gentle with the dough and keep the kneading to a minimum.  Place in a piping bag and pipe onto a lightly floured benchtop. Cut the mixture into 2cm lengths and roll into balls.
Refrigerate.

Mushroom mixture
150 g diced saffron milk caps
1 lemon, juiced
4 tblspns of hazelnut oil
Smoked Maldon salt

Heat the oil and saute the diced milk caps gently. You need to be careful with hazelnut oil so don’t over heat it, just let it warm for a gentle fry. Finish with a little salt and a good squeeze of lemon.

PLATING UP
Get a pot of water going to cook your dumplings.  Treat them as you would gnocchi.
Place your creamy Jerusalem artichoke broth on to re-heat.
Do a final taste with your smoked salt.
Once the water is boiling, drop your dumplings in and when they begin to rise to the top they are done. Remove from the water and set aside.
In the centre of a bowl place a pile of sauteed mushrooms. Place four or five truffle dumplings around the bowl.  Pour in your broth and finish with a little truffle oil.