Introducing a delightful winter Soup: Warming Celeriac Soup with Herbs!! Celeriac, often overlooked due to its rough, brown appearance, emerges as a secret gem in the world of winter vegetables. This unsung hero deserves a place in your family’s meals!
The richness of this soup is unmatched, offering a creamy texture and a delightful earthy taste complemented by subtle hints of sweetness. It’s the ultimate comfort food for those chilly winter days when you crave something warm and soothing.
I’m a fan of using seasonal veggies, especially the underrated winter root vegetables. They burst with flavour, pack a nutritional punch, and are incredibly budget-friendly. Roasting them is a game-changer; it intensifies their flavours, brings out natural sweetness, and removes any bitterness.
Celeriac might be underestimated, but it shines brilliantly in soups. Pairing it with apple adds an extra dimension of taste, making it an exceptional choice. This combination creates a harmonious blend of flavours that elevate the soup to a whole new level of deliciousness.
What is Celeriac?
Celeriac also known as turnip-rooted celery, knob celery or celery root, originated in the Mediterranean and as you’d guess, it’s closely related to celery, carrots and parsnip family. It is popular in Eastern and Northern European regions as a winter root vegetable and is commonly used in salads, soups, casseroles and stews.
Celeriac is not quite a common vegetable, but it is well known for its unique appearance. It looks similar to a misshapen turnip and is off-white with a rough, knobby surface covered in tiny rootlets. It’s smooth, white flesh is similar to a potato.
The leaves and stems in fact look just like skinny celery stalks. However you only eat the chunky root bulb of celeriac, and it’s often sold with just this part. Mild and earthy in flavour, it has a hint of celery but with nutty undertones.
Raw celeriac has a crunchy texture, making it a perfect addition to salads and coleslaws. When cooked, it has a texture like potato but slightly more fibrous and with sweeter flavours. Though its peak season is September to April, celeriac is generally available year-round.
Celeriac is wonderfully nutritious. It is particularly high in vitamin K and potassium, but is also a good source of vitamin C and numerous essential minerals. Relatively low in carbohydrates and calories, and all-round good for you.
It is one of those vegetable which you can almost do anything with. Roast, boil, mash, sauté, and you can even eat it raw if thinly sliced just as in coleslaw.
Enjoy winter celeriac soup as an appetiser, light lunch, or easy dinner.
How to prepare celeriac
For all its gnarly bits, celeriac isn’t actually that hard to work with. The key is to not be too precious about losing a bit of the flesh.
Use a good knife to top and tail the celeriac then continue around the celeriac slicing off the rest of the skin. Or treat it like a potato and use a peeler! The skin of the celeriac is much tougher and rougher than a potato, so you may need to run over a few time to get it all off. That’s why I like to cut the skin with the knife. You can now chop the celeriac into whatever sort of pieces you need: chunks, slices or strips depending on the recipe.
Celeriac flesh does not oxidise and go brown very quickly so if using immediately you don’t need to keep pieces in acidulated water. However once sliced, and if you want to keep for longer, immerse the celeriac pieces into a bowl of water with a squeeze of lemon juice or splash of white wine vinegar.
What you need for Delicious Warming Celeriac Soup with Herbs
- Celeriac – You need roughly about 1kg whole bulb (unpeeled) to yield 800g after peeling. See above for how to peel and chop celeriac.
- Apple – This adds a bit of sweetness to this soup and enhances the earthy flavour of the celeriac.
- Garlic, onion, celery and leek – These are the key ingredients to get the aromatic base for the soup.
- Hazelnut – This adds a bit of body and thickness to the soup, and adds a nutty flavour.
- Vegetable Stock – This helps in boosting the flavours of the soup.
- Crème fraîche – Essential for that luxurious, creamy texture and it gives this soup that extra-special touch.
- Butter – For sautéing the vegetables.
- Herbs and spices – Bay leaf (dry or fresh), black peppercorns and thyme sprigs. These are used to add extra flavour to the soup.
Helpful Tips and Tricks to Make Warming Celeriac Soup with Herbs
- Apple – While there is no requirement in terms of variety of apple to use, just bear in mind that different apples will bring different levels of sweetness and acidity.
- Vegan – You can make this soup vegan by substituting the butter for vegan butter and use any plant based milk or creme instead of crème fraîche.
- You can use potato to add more thickness to the soup.
- Storage – You can store this celeriac soup in the fridge for up to four days. Reheat in the microwave or in a pan on low heat.
- Freeze: Store this soup in the freezer for up to six months. Defrost thoroughly before reheating on the hob or in the microwave.
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