I’ve been meaning to pick up some celeriac for awhile now, just because it may be the ugliest vegetable in the grocery store. People are always passing it by, poor thing. On the outside it’s a tangled mess of dirty, fuzzy roots and knobs, but once peeled it has the faint aroma of celery, a pale color, and a smooth texture. While I always thought it was simply the root of a celery plant it’s actually a related, but separate, species. Above ground it grows a few stalks and leaves, but the majority of the growth happens underground in the root. When shopping look for smaller ones, which are tender and have more flavor.
This preparation, which I found on the River Cottage website, is a very classic French approach to the vegetable, pureed in a soup. Along with some classic aromatics like onion, garlic, and leek, the root is sautéed with a potato and then simmered in stock. It’s finished with a bit of cream. The result has the richness of a puréed potato soup with very little of that starchy, gummy texture. The subtle taste reminiscent of celery gives it a light freshness. The recipe offers many diverging paths for garnishing the soup—confit of chilies, pesto of parsley and hemp seeds—but we went with the simple crispy bacon and a drizzle of more cream. It was a nice smoky foil to the elegant flavor.
