Jerusalem Artichoke and Fennel Soup

Some months ago we started getting fresh vegetables once a week through an organisation called Harvest of Hope, which is an organisation which coordinates the sale of produce from various backyard farmers throughout Cape Town.  What happens is on a Tuesday, you go and collect a box load of produce at a central location - we pay R100 a week - and you have more than a week's supply of fresh produce.  You have no say, of course, in what you are going to get, so often you need to do a bit of research on what arrives.

Such was the case with Jerusalem Artichokes.  First I thought they were minute sweet potatoes - so I treated them as such and found them distinctly lacking.  But when I worked out what they were, I started looking around to recipes.  This one, which naturally I have adapted a bit, is really superb.  The marriage of these two veggies is amazing and the soup is really easy to make and freezes extremely well.  On such a cold and rainy day as today was in Cairph Tahn, I was very happy to pull out a soup which I had frozen some time ago out of the freezer and warm it up.  It was absolutely delicious!

Jerusalem Artichoke and Fennel Soup

1 large fennel bulb, well washed and chopped (with the hard bits top and bottom cut off and consigned to the compost heap).
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
About 900g Jerusalem Artichokes, peeled, chunked and put in water with a bit of lemon juice in it
1 potato, peeled and chopped.
1 litre water either with a spoon of fried vegetable stock or a litre of the real thing
Olive oil
Salt and black pepper

Fry the onion in some olive oil until it starts to go golden - (shouldn't be brown!)
Add the chopped fennel and potato and fry for a bit with the onion (around 10 minutes or so).
Add the stock and cook until the ingredients are tender
Blend until smooth
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve

What could be simpler than that?