Cream of celeriac soup

I made this soup after I returned home from spending a weekend with my friends Annie and Andrew at their home in Wiltshire.  On the Saturday Annie and Andrew took me to Salisbury where there is a very good market in the main square – a proper market with vegetable stalls, fruit sellers, butchers, a cheesemonger (maybe two) and all manner of stalls with delicious foods to buy.  One of my purchases was the celeriac – the other was a brace of pheasant which were locally sourced (and shot) and are now residing in my freezer – the subject of a future post.  I must say that the Salisbury saturday market is reason enough to move there.

What you’ll need for four people as a soup/first course:

• One celeriac approximately 1kg in weight
• One medium-sized onion peeled and cut in half
• One small to medium-sized potato peeled and cut in half or quarters*
• 1.5 litres vegetable stock
• Salt and pepper
• Cream**

What you’ll need to do:

• Prepare the celeriac by trimming off the thick knobbly roots.  Then, either using a potato peeler or a sharp knife, ‘skin’ the celeriac.  If you are using a knife be careful not to take off chunks of the vegetable with the skin.  The skin is easy to trim away so not much force is needed.
• Cut celeriac into chunks
• Make up the vegetable stock in a large saucepan and bring to the boil.
• Add the celeriac, onion and potato to the stock and reduce to a simmer.  Cover with saucepan lid and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes.
• Check that the celeriac and potato are cooked and if so turn off the heat and allow the mixture to cool.
• Once the broth and vegetables are cooled sufficiently transfer to a liquidiser and whizz until smooth.
• Return soup to a clean saucepan and season with salt and a little pepper if you wish.  Remember,  the stock will have salt in it so you may not need to add more.
• As you are warming the soup prior to serving pour in the cream a little at a time to your liking.  Once you have added the cream don’t let the soup boil as the cream may separate.

* I include a potato because it acts as a natural thickening agent.  If you prefer a thinner soup then you may either omit the potato altogether or add more stock after you have blended the soup.  I think the potato adds a little silkiness to the overall texture.

** If you wish to keep the calories down then you can ditch the cream – the soup will be just as delicious without it.  Oh yes, I use double cream myself.

As a post-script I would like to thank my friend June Lim of Singapore who suggested  I should put the picture of the finished dish at the top of the recipe and not at the bottom.