Cream Of Celery Root Soup

[Sea Six]

This is one of those bisque-like soups that is so good, your guests will be turning their bowls upside down and licking them clean. At the dinner table. :eek:

If you're looking for something that is very different, very unique and incredibly delicious, you've found it.

The heart of the recipe is a celery root. I can get them on a regular basis at my local mid-grade supermarket (Publix).

It's a big ball, about as hard as a rutabaga, and with a taste that is all its own... not too harsh, but quite different. The kitchen smells so good when this is cooking... hard to describe. I've never found anyone who didn't love it.

3T olive oil
1 leek, chopped
1 white onion, diced
2 ribs of fresh celery, sliced
1 celery root, peeled and chopped into 1/2" to 3/4" cubes
6 cups chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream or milk (use the heavy cream. Trust me. Use the heavy cream).
Celery salt, Pepper and garlic to taste (three big cloves is just about right for this recipe)

Saute the leek and the onion.

Add the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the cream (or milk, for you Nancy boys).

Boil everything until the celery root and the celery are tender... around 20-30 minutes. How long it takes to get the root tender boils down to (pun intended) how long the root has been out of the ground, I think. When a celery root cube is tender enough to cut with a butter knife, it's about right.

Take about 16 ounces of the soup at a time into a blender, and blend at a medium-low speed until all of it is blended... around 15 seconds should do it.

After everything is blended, slowly stir in the heavy cream (or, yes, milk for all of ya silly billies).

It's ready to serve immediately.

:yesnod:



:drool:

[Sea Six]

http://dingo.care2.com/pictures/greenliving/uploads/2012/10/celery-root.jpg

[Sea Six]

To trim this sucker, get your chef's knife and make shallow slices down all the sides. You'll get it to the point where you can break out your vegetable peeler. Keep whittling it down until you get all of the hairy outer layer removed, and perhaps another 1/8" as well. Then, using a sharp knife, and being careful not to knock the thing off the counter, press the knife all the way down to cut it in half. It's pretty hard, but not impossible to cut.

From here, it's pretty easy. Lay each of the flat cut sides down on your cutting board. Make 1/2" to 3/4" slices by putting the point of your knife down on the cutting board and using the heel of your hand to press down on the back of the knife blade as you rock the knife down onto the cutting board.

Take the big slices individually and cut them into cubes.