Quote of the Week, Perhaps a Bit Longer

"The biological community is a vast and complicated system for sharing and distributing the energy of the sun among a diversity of life forms." ~Martson Bates

11/5/09

Celeriac: AKA Celery Root

Celeriac, with its gnarly outside and its white inside

I have never been much of a fan for celery, but a few days ago I was flipping through TV channels and noticed a woman holding a large, ugly, root in her hand. I was compelled to stop and learn more about this interesting looking vegetable. Come to find out it was celeriac--otherwise known as celery root. On the show they were making celeriac-potato soup. I watched for a bit and found that although the root is funky looking when you purchase it, once it has been pared and chopped it has a gorgeous white interior. I also learned that celeriac's taste is more mild than that of celery, which further increased my interest.

A few days later I was in the market and saw a bin full of celeriac. I knew we had some potatoes at home so I thought I would make the celeriac-potato soup I saw on the show. However, once I got home and looked up the recipe I realized it called for red potatoes and all we had were backing potatoes. So I decided to put the soup off for awhile. A few days later I started browsing the internet looking for celeriac recipes and stumble upon this little gem from freshtopia. It has a wonderful flavor and can be eaten cold or warmed up. It is a raw recipe which is great since I enjoy trying foods from differing genres, although I'm not convinced that genre is the appropriate word to use in this context.


Recipe:

Ingredients:
4 cups of celeriac - pared, chopped
2 cups of water
1 cup of fennel chopped
1/2 cup of apple chopped - your favorite kind
1/2 cup of macadamia nuts - soaked for an hour +
1/4 cup onion - chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons of fresh tarragon - minced, save a couple of leaves for garnish if you wish
1 lemon
1 clove garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Once you have chopped your celeriac soak it in 2 cups of water with the juice of 1 lemon, this keeps the celeriac from turning brown and preserves its nice white color. I put the apples in the lemon water as well to keep them from browning while I chopped and prepped the other ingredients.

Place all of the ingredients, other than the olive oil, salt and pepper , into the blender. Be sure to include the lemon water that your celeriac was soaking in. Blend until fairly smooth. Add the olive oil, salt and pepper. Blend until really smooth. Now, if you want a smoother soup you can strain it--I like it a bit chunky so I just left it. It is a nice, hearty soup that can be eaten cold or heated up depending on your preference. I tried it both ways and both were very tasty. On a cold day though, I'm sure warming it up would be a wonderful treat.


This soup was very good. I was really surprised by how flavorful it was. I tend not to be a huge fan of fennel either, but the combination in this soup was very nice. I highly recommend it. Another delightful part of this recipe is when you chop up the celeriac you get a beautiful, soft celery smell. The smell of celery is typically to strong for me, but the scent of the celeriac is a mild, delicate version of celery. I find it much more pleasing.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

yummy it was delicious!!! :)

Erin said...

nobody here eats celery stalks, just the root. i thought it was weird at first, but after eating a delicious celery root and carrot salad last year, i can understand why.

Margery said...

You are becoming a chef! Love, Mom