Growing up my dad chose to put his foot down and take his wife and four daughters to Maui every year for Thanksgiving, thus escaping the craziness of a huge family get together. I was incredibly lucky to spend countless hours in the ocean, playing with my friends I’d made over the years and quality time with my sisters. I cherish that intimate family time and the memories we made.

Christmas has always been the opposite, a big get together with aunties and uncles, cousins, my sisters and their families, friends and little ones. This year we have close to thirty people over for dinner. We are having beef tenderloin and salmon this year, with our guests bringing side dishes. I wanted to try something different, and enjoyed the bites of the sunchoke and pork belly dish my dad had recently ordered at a dinner out at Soif so much. Sunchokes look like ginger, but can be prepared like a potato. Scrub them clean with a stiff vegetable brush. Slice them about 1/4″ thick, I found I liked the texture much more when they weren’t too thin.

Ingredients:
2 to 3 large sunchokes, sliced 1/4-inch thick
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 sprig of fresh rosemary, leaves removed
3 to 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and left whole

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Scrub the sunchokes clean. When picking them out at the store, try to avoid the really knobby ones, because it makes it more difficult to clean. Slice thinly. Add the garlic and sunchokes to a roasting pan, tossing them in olive oil. I like to use a refillable spray like this one because you can evenly and lightly cover your veggies or pastas that way. Sprinkle with salt and rosemary and let roast for approximately 15 minutes. They are a great substitute for potatoes and taste a touch sweet.