Celeriac Soup with Parsley Oil and Lancashire Cheese Toasts
I’m making a lot of soups at the moment, partly because it’s winter and I need comfort food and partly because I seem to end up with a lot of odds and sods that need using up. The tangy cheese is a great foil here for the creamy soup. I added a little leftover Gruyere to mine too, still hanging around from the French onion soup I made recently.
A quick look on Wikipedia tells me that the celeriac ‘can last three to four months if stored between 0° and 5° C and if not allowed to dry out’ – can you believe that?! What a trooper! I can imagine it now, every time the fridge is opened the celeriac is still sitting there, unblemished by time, begging to be eaten – until someone says, ‘we really should be doing something with that knobbly thing in the fridge’ Although there are a hundred different things to do with the humble root, think remoulade, gratin, mash, rosti, chips etc etc, I think the good old soup is something I’ll keep coming back to.
Celeriac Soup with Parsley Oil and Lancashire Cheese Toasts (Serves 4)
1 smallish celeriac
2 small carrots
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped
2 pints good quality vegetable stock
3-4 tablespoons single cream
1 bay leaf
Olive oil
A knob of butter
Salt and pepper
For the Oil
1 small bunch flatleaf parsley, leaves picked and chopped
Olive oil, extra virgin or not is up to you (I wouldn’t be tempted to use very-strong flavoured extra virgin here, it will overpower the parsley too much)
For the toasts
8 slices baguette or similar bread, cut on a slight diagonal
Grated Lancashire cheese
- Chop the celeriac and carrots into cubes and roughly dice the onion.
- Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and the butter to a pan and gently cook the veggies until they just start to colour. Add the garlic and cook for a few minutes more.
- Add the stock, bay leaf and some seasoning, give everything a good stir and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, put a lid on and simmer for around 20 minutes until the veggies are soft.
- Meanwhile, make the parsley oil by chopping the parsley and adding enough oil to make it into a loose sauce.
- Lightly toast the bread on one side, then turn over, add the cheese and toast again until golden and bubbling.
- Remove the bay leaf from the soup and puree until smooth.
- Add 3-4 tablespoons of single cream, check the seasoning, ladle into bowls and drizzle the parsley oil on top.
- Serve with the Lancashire toasts.
Category: Blogging Events, Soups, Starters, Vegetables 7 comments »
February 19th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Thanks so much for submitting this to the Root Source Challenge – the soup looks delicious. Good luck!
February 19th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
I really love celeriac in soup, and am very much craving those lancashire toasties now…
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Thanks for the Foodbuzz friend request!
You blog is looking sharp and this soup screams winter-time comfort.
February 22nd, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Great looking soup! I make a really nice Celeriac, Apple and Stilton soup. I really love the flavour of celeriac. It makes a wonderful Dauphinois as well. Thanks so much for your Foodbuzz friend request by the way! Happy to know you!
February 22nd, 2008 at 3:23 pm
I have never been one for Celeriac or anything celery related for that matter! But this looks just awesome, especially with those divine cheese toasties! YUM!
February 22nd, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Claire – No, thank you for choosing my soup as the featured recipe! I look forward to receving the cookbook.
AnneMarie – There’s nothing quite like a posh bit of cheese on toast is there?
Peter – I’m just getting into the whole FoodBuzz thing so I’ll see you there. Thank you for the complement on the soup.
Marie – That soup sounds delicious! Is it on your blog? I’d love to try it.
Jenn – I really hope you try it, let me know what you think if you do.
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Ah, now that’s my kind of soup. Celeriac can be absolutely stunning when in season, and when used in a way that really complements its natural flavours. I imagine the parsley oil goes particularly well – and who could refuse those toasts?