Jerusalem artichokes with olives and thyme

Jerusalem artichokes, the tubers that form on the root of a member of the sunflower family, thrive in the same marginal conditions as the potato – which, in a nutshell, means my corner of mid-Wales. It’s no relation of the leaf artichoke, which is the flower bud of a large thistle – confusion arose over the name when the tuber was first introduced from the Americas via the gardens of Seville, where it was known as the girasol (turn to the sun), hence ‘Jerusalem’. While it makes an ac