Sunday, October 18, 2009

Celery Root Soup with Toasted Walnuts

Who knew this big, knobby, ugly vegetable could turn into this smooth, creamy, beautiful soup. Such a diamond in the rough. If you see this at your local farmers market, don't pass it up. It has great flavor and can be transformed into many delicious dishes.

This year I was driving my local farmer nuts. Any celeriac/celery root yet? Finally there it was and I descended upon it. I wanted to shout hurray but I thought they might think I was a little crazy. Okay, okay, I am crazy, I just don't want everyone knowing that.

While I am picking mine out, the kid at the stand says, "yah know, they are a pain in the neck to dig out. You have to be so careful not to destroy it." I fully appreciate his pain and I honored that beautiful root and made it into some silky, tastey soup.


Celery Root Soup with Toasted Walnuts
Lori's Lipsmacking Goodness

32 ounces chicken broth
2 celery roots, cleaned and cubed
1 small onion, chopped
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 cup milk (I used 2%)
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped and roasted

In a large soup pot saute onion in canola oil until translucent. Add chicken broth and celery root. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until the root is softened, about 20 minutes). Remove from heat and blend to a puree. Return to stovetop and turn heat to low. Add milk and heat until it is hot but not boiling. Ladle into bowls and top with toasted walnuts.

10 comments:

grace said...

wow, you are so right--i can't think of any other piece of produce that transforms so drastically! downright hideous to absolutely stunning. awesome soup. :)

kat said...

I have half of one left to use up, a good creamy soup might be called for

The Blonde Duck said...

I've never heard of celery soup! Neat!

Mary Bergfeld said...

Your soup is just stunning! I happen to love celeriac. I'll have to give this a try.

Lucy..♥ said...

This looks great and so perfect for these cool temps!

hungryandfrozen said...

This soup sounds sooo good. I've seen celeriac at one of the local supermarkets - they look like a baby animal of some kind. Good to know they taste so good :)

Katy ~ said...

I have never used celeriac so this is especially interesting to me; always looking for ways to use vegetables that I'm unfamiliar with. We love celery soup so this looks and sounds totally appealing to me. Will have to give this a try. Thanks for a delicious post.

Lynn said...

This is really interesting, Lori, and I'll bet it's really good. I'm not familiar with celery root. Do you cut it up, root and all? Any part of it you throw away? I'd like to try this but don't want to accidentally discard the part I'm supposed to be eating! (I did that this summer when I tried making spaghetti squash for the first time, following my neighbor's instructions :0 Now I'm a little skittish on cooking unfamiliar veggies.) Please advise!

Lori said...

Lynn- That is a good question. Dont be skiddish- it's pretty friendly even though it kind of looks ferocious. Basically what I do is kind of angle the knife around cutting the gnarly parts off. Once that is cut off and discarded, you should be left with kind of a ball. Dice it up and you are ready to put it in soup.

Murasaki Shikibu said...

This is definitely my kind of food. I love soup and the toasted walnuts I'm sure made it stellar!