Monday, June 14, 2010

Falling in love with Celeriac



Today I fell in love! The object of my admiration was not the prettiest specimen but it was love at first taste! I've seen it prepared on cooking shows and read about so when I saw Celeriac at the supermarket today I had to have one. But for someone who has over 100 recipe books I simply couldn't find a single recipe for celeriac soup so I had to resort to the internet.



I found a gorgeous looking picture and used that as my inspiration. I know my SA readers won't find celeriac easily but if by any chance you are at a farmers market and stumble across them buy it immediately! After some reading up I discovered you should by a medium sized one with no soft spots - apparently they get as big as rock melons and those can be a bit woody. It's surprisingly soft - I thought it would be harder to peel and slice. It wasn't quite as soft as, say, an aubergine but nowhere near as hard as butternut. Definitely unique! You also need to peel it and use it quickly or it discolours (or put it into acidulated water - that just means water with some fresh lemon juice squeezed into it).

I used:
1 Medium celeriac - peeled and cubed
1T Olive oil
1T Butter
Maldon salt - pinch

1 Onion finely chopped
Little olive oil for frying
1L Chicken stock
500ml Milk2 Potatoes peeled and cubed
Maldon Salt
White Pepper to taste

Sour Cream
Spring Onions
Croutons or French bread


I roasted the celeriac at about 200C with a little olive oil, a generous sprinkling of Maldon salt and a knob of butter until it was golden brown and soft.

While it was roasting and I was on the phone to my cousin who is expecting her first baby, I sweated the onions until they were soft and golden brown.
Once the celeriac is ready add it to the onions and add the stock, milk, potatoes salt and white pepper. Simmer until the vegetables are really soft. Allow the mixture to cool slightly and then process until smooth in a blender - do small batches so you don't have soup all over your kitchen.
Place in a pot and re-heat - add a little more milk if the soup is too thick and then season to taste.

I served it with buttery croutons, spring onions and a dollop of sour cream finished off with cracked black pepper.
It was so unctuous and delicious with a slightly earthy, woody taste and backnotes of celery. Really heart-warming.


4 comments:

  1. Looks Delicious cuzzie xx

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  2. I think I can find this is our local green market. It sounds delicious and worth a try. This is my first visit to your blog, so I've spent some time reading your earlier posts as well. I like your recipes and the convivial tone of your blog. I'll be back often. I hope you are having a wonderful day. Blessings...Mary

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  3. I haven't tried cooking with this before but from how you describe it,I'm excited to give this a try.If you won't mind I'd love to guide Foodista readers to this post.Just add the foodista widget to the end of this post and it's all set, Thanks!

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  4. Interesting, no I have never seen or heard of, will have to keep an eye out.

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