How-To Make Celeriac and Apple Soup

The Frugal Feeding’s recent post about celeriac soup reminded me that I haven’t made this bowl of fragrant warm comfort in a long time. Frugal’s soup looks wonderfully rich and creamy. Mine benefits from a subtle hint of sweetness and tartness from the apple. Some crumbled bacon also goes nicely on top with the toasted walnuts and bread cubes.

So, having decided what was for lunch, I was off to the supermarket in hope of finding celeriac. It’s a pity that this root vegetable isn’t as commonly used as other veg. Can you image only 4 carrots available in the produce bin? – that was the fate of the celeriac at the supermarket. Wedged in a tiny space, squeezed between two bins of curly greens – there sat two shrink-wrapped balls of celeriac. I grabbed the roundest and least scabby one. And a Granny Smith apple. And a large sweet onion. And I was ready to cook lunch.

Celeriac and Apple Soup

Ingredients

30g butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
500g celeriac, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 firm, tart apple, peeled and cut into small cubes
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
750ml hot chicken or vegetable stock (from cubes is okay)
handful walnuts or pecans, chopped in chunky bits
a handful of cubed bread
Salt and white pepper
Celery salt, optional

Method

Prep all the ingredients beforehand: peel/cube the celeriac, slice the onion, peel and cube the apple (I used a Granny Smith), make the veg stock from a cube, chop the walnuts and cube the bread. This recipe moves fast, so it’s helpful to have everything ready.

If you need help peeling the celeriac, refer to this very good tutorial.

Heat the butter and oil in a pan until it sizzles, then add the sliced onion, stir, reduce the heat to low, clap on the lid, and sweat until softened. This takes about three minutes. Then add the celeriac, stir and clap the lip back on, and sweat for five minutes. Now pour in enough hot stock to cover the celeriac and onion. Reserve any leftover to thin the soup (if needed) when blitzing the soup smooth with your hand-blender.

Keep the pot covered and simmer for 15 minutes until the celeriac is soft. Add the cubed apple and cook for another two minutes. Turn off the heat and blend using a stick blender/hand-blender until the ingredients are smooth. If the soup is too thick, add a bit of the reserved stock. Taste, and adjust salt if required.

For the garnish, melt a nob of butter in a small frying pan, toss in the walnuts, and then add the cubed bread. Sauté them until the bread is golden and crisp. Place on top of the soup, and serve.

Based on a recipe by Angela Hartnett (as shown on telly, UK Food)