Celeriac Soup

What an ugly vegetable celeriac is!

I  try to  eat seasonally so when I was at my local veg stall this week, I bought celeriac. It was cheap too - a £1 for a fairly big ugly beast!

Ugly vegetables are in the news,  Jamie Oliver is backing Asda’s decision to stock misshapen veg at a discounted price. And about time too – why should they be slung on piles of rejects just because they don’t meet the supermarkets’ beauty parade rules of height, weight and skin perfection?

The veg whose had the greatest gnarled heads and the ugliest veg on the aisle has to go to Celeriac!!

Originally introduced into this country in the 18th century, it has never achieved the popularity it has enjoyed in Europe, where sales outstrip that of celery. Perhaps we are put off by the ugliness? The flavour is similar to celery although in fact it tastes more rounded, mellow and nutty than celery stems. It doesn’t have the stringy texture of celery.

 I thought that it was a root vegetable. A little research however showed that while celeriac is generally classified as a root vegetable, and certainly looks and behaves like one, it is actually either a “corm” or a swollen stem base,  What ever its botanical category, in teh kitchen it's treated as a root vegetable.

So what I thought can I do with this ugly veg?  There are all sorts of recipes using raw and cooked celeriac but I wanted to make something simple for lunch.  Of course, my staple of the moment, soup. I added rolled oats as I read about it in another recipe and it thickens the soup - and it does it well.

So this is what you need......

Ingredients

1 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion,chopped 1 teaspoon salt
 25g rolled oats
1 medium  celeriac, trimmed, thickly chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
 750 ml of vegetable stock
Juice of 1/2 lemon or more to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

This is what you do..........

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add onions, salt, and rolled oats. Reduce heat, and sweat onions and oats covered for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Add celeriac and garlic. Sweat celeriac and garlic for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add stock, and bring soup to simmer.
4. Cook covered for 20-25 minutes, or until celeriac is very tender.
5. Puree soup in a blender until smooth.
6. Season with lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.

Surprisingly tasty Celeriac soup!