This is a wonderfully creamy soup that has no cream in it. The Hungarians know only celery root, they really don’t eat the stalks like we do (the stalks are an amazing snack, I ALWAYS keep some washed in a sealed container in the fridge for snacking. I once read that it takes more calories to eat one that the calories in the stalk!). I do add a bit of Olive Oil (EVOO) to the soup and I used butter to toast the croutons, but there is no other fat in this dish.
Celeriac Velouté
Serves 4 (one cup portions)
Ingredients:
- 1 celery root, cleaned, peeled and cut into relatively equal cubes.
- 1/2 a large sweet onion, cut into quarters
- 1 small head of garlic, bottom chopped off and excess skin removed.
- 3 tbsp EVOO
- Vegetable stock
- Salt
- Non-stick cooking spray
- Left over onion confit focaccia cut into diamond shapes
- 1 tbsp butter
- sea salt
Directions:
- Spray a large cookie sheet with non-stick spray and distribute the onion and celeriac cubes evenly. Roast in a pre-heated oven set at 350°F until soft.
- Add the EVOO to a small ramekin and place the garlic cut side down. Salt with sea salt. Cover with aluminum foil and bake with the rest of the vegetables until soft.
- In a large pyrex bowl, add the cooked vegetables with the olive oil from the roasted garlic, and squeeze the roasted garlic into the same bowl. Add vegetable stock and purée with your immersion blender until very smooth. Press through a fine sieve to make sure your soup is very creamy.
- Melt the butter in a small frying pan and toast the focaccia so that it is crispy on all sides.
- Reheat the soup to serve; pour into your rimmed soup bowls, garnish with the focaccia toasts and enjoy.
Your celery soup looks so creamy (and without having to use cream!) — send any leftovers my way please. 🙂
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I am so glad you are joining Eva. 🙂
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Heehee, love the aka: “soup” – this lovely dish is deserving of the elegant appellation of velouté though. I like the addition of some oil or coconut milk as well – olive sounds lovely – I have some mushroom infused olive oil that I’ve been going bananas over and I think it would work beautifully here. Such a pretty colour you achieved too – at first I thought you might have coupled the celeriac with sweet potato; it’s such a vibrant and lovely looking bowl. Nice touch with the focaccia topping too – your onion rendition looks smashing!
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You are indeed too kind Kelly, thank you for your generous words. Your idea of combining sweet potato with celeriac sounds wonderful, I must give that a go one day.
I’ve not added coconut milk/oil to any soup as yet, I know it’s not a bad fat, but it is indeed calories and although I know I would thoroughly enjoy the flavour, particularly with celeriac, it would be like adding whipping cream to soup—I just don’t need it. I love the idea, but I’ll save the coconut for the special curries. But then again, I might just do it for company! XO
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This soup looks and sounds so lovely! The taste of celery root is wonderfully delicious!
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Thanks so much, I really love this vegetable and use it quite frequently; it’s lovely because it is quite versatile.
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Don’t have to tell me how good celery root is Eva. Love it and anytime it’s in soup. 😉
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Thanks Jed, glad to hear that you enjoy this gnarly vegetable!
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what a gorgeous picture. wonderful, eva x
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Hi Scrambled Megs, how nice of you to say. Welcome to my blog, I hope you can stay awhile and check out some of my other recipes.
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Yum! Love that it has no cream in it but still has that creamy consistency.
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Thank you so much Anne, it is very creamy and velvety and does indeed contrast very nicely with the crispy focaccia.
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I really love your recipes, Eva.. they always inspire me to think of new foods and preparing them in different ways. I’ve never had celeriac root.. nor roasted them for a soup. The flavor must have been fantastic because the stalks have quite an aromatic taste. Thank you for your kind words on my blog.. I haven’t figured out how to “reply to” there yet.. so.. thank you! I actually now understand why people self-host. If you enjoy that sort of thing, there are all sorts of “plug-ins” that make writing up recipes so much easier, kind of like hundreds of widgets for all sorts of purposes. Anyway, I appreciate you following me over there:) How is your weather?? It’s cold, frosty and still a deep chill in the air here. xx
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Thank you so much for your lovely words too Barbara, I hope you do indeed try the celeriac, it’s a lovely vegetable that is rather versatile. I also love it raw as a slaw!
No worries about replying in your new blog; I’ve been thinking about hosting my own as well. I will email you about the pluses and minuses!
Our weather was lovely about a week back, but then the temperatures plummeted and it’s pretty humid so it feels much colder than it is. This afternoon they are predicting 3-4 cm of the white stuff. I can’t tell you how sick I am of it and the cold. I just can’t get warm enough these days.
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Stunning picture, stunning soup,that too with such simple ingredients. Love it!
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Thanks Minnie
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The celery veloute looks so delicious and creamy and I’m sure it tastes as good as it looks 🙂
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Thanks Daniela, and welcome to my blog. It is always a winner in my house. I popped over to your lovely blog and I can’t figure out how to comment on it, am I just daft? Can you help?
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Hi Eva – I’ve never tried a celeriac soup. My mother used to make a celery soup (as in regular stalks) which I adored. I suppose the flavour wouldn’t be too dissimilar, although the celeriac would certainly make it thicker, and as you say, creamier. Great idea – I’ll try it when I next buy some celeriac. It’s cheap as chips here… around €1.50 so I’m sure I could grab a root at the market tomorrow!
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I’d love to see the celery stalk recipe, Charles. I’m pretty sure you would live the creamy texture and celery flavour of this soup.
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Eva, exquisite as always! I have never heard of EVOO. Sounds intriguing. And I have never used celery root. This soup looks so delicious! The creaminess looks perfect 🙂
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Hi Judy, EVOO is Extra Virgin Olive Oil! Thank you for your lovely compliments.
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Thank you very much. I have that and didn’t even think of it abbreviated. Thank you for your reply!
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I love creamy soups without the cream. I never seem to have it in the house and when I do it goes way too fast.
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Thanks Greg, I sometimes have whipping cream but that’s usually around Valentina’s day ;)!
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Oh I’m saving this one! Love celariac’s flavour, unlike any othe veggie and the soup sounds perfect
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Thanks Claire, I’d love to hear what you thought of the recipe.
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I love celery too and my husband could live on it. I’m dying to try this soup with the other end. I’ve only prepared celery root once in my life but this soup looks so inviting.
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Thanks Maureen it’s fortunate that you both enjoy this unique vegetable; I hope you try the soup and let me know what you think of it.
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I’ve just discovered how much I love the flavor of celery root…so I know I’d enjoy your beautiful soup. I’ll take a double dose of those buttery croutons!
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Thank you do much Liz. That ugly brain-like root is something I couldn’t live without.
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I’ve never quite warmed up to celery stalk, unless it’s properly cooked. Celeriac on the other hand is really nice, the soup looks great!
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Thank you and welcome to my blog. I love the taste of the stalks but then again I think they are rather different in Europe and North America, not sure why. I’m told they have an anise-like flavour in Europe.
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They do taste a little like anise, but it also depends on where they are grown, and it can vary from country to country.
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You know, I add the celeriac stalks to broth making but never eat them raw, will try when I harvest this year. Looking at the photo it is hard to believe there is no cream in the soup.
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Thanks Norma, there is something about roasting the celery root which makes it taste unbelievably creamy.
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Celery is unknown – or at least not traditionally used – in many European countries (in Central and Eastern Europe for example also only celeriac is traditionally used). This soup looks gorgeous, smooth and delicate. Focaccia seems to go perfectly well with it too. Frankly speaking, I have never had a celeriac soup in my life, so it’s quite intriguing, but I’m sure I would love it. I like both celeriac and celery.
With the second winter we are having this week soups are all I dream of now. I’m heading to the shop to buy a chicken and make more stock for the weekend.
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Thank you kindly Sissi. My Aunt Ági in Budapest grows celery for its root, not the stems so I know exactly what you mean. I hope you try this soup, it is very tasty and presents quite beautifully for a dinner party. The carmelized onion focaccia did work out very nicely against the smooth creamy texture of the soup. I know exactly what you mean about craving soups…your chicken stock sound like a great idea (plus it will give your home a wonderful aroma!). Have a great weekend.
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Celery leaves are used in Poland for example, but rarely, and they have thin stalks, which look similar to big parsley leaves… so maybe in Hungary these are used too? Celeriac and celery don’t have the same upper part.
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Thanks Sissi, the one my aunt was growing looked like celery but thinner like you described. I’m going to google it, thanks for the info.
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Beautiful soup Eva. Very elegant and just makes you think of spring. I also like hoe you incorporated the leftovers into a meal. I am all about that. Wishing you a super weekend. Bam
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Thank you kindly Bam, so lovely of you to say. I loved the contrast in texture from the cripsy focaccia and the creamy, velvety soup.
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It’s hard to believe you can get such an elegant soup from a rough looking veggie like celeriac. I boiled mine and added it to potatoes to serve with a beef pot roast the last time I had one. Thank you for the reminder as I don’t use it nearly enough. 🙂
http://a-boleyn.livejournal.com/117837.html
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Thanks Maria, my Mom used to boil her’s for soups but I feel that roasting gets the best flavour from them. I think they are a wonderful addition to stews, it certainly adds a complexity of earthy flavours. I’m going to check your post now, thanks for the link.
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This looks like a wonderful and fresh tasting soup, Eva. And I’m guessing I can make it even if I don’t have some of that lovely onion confit focaccia for my croutons. 😉 I still haven’t cooked with celery root, though I use the stalk all the time. Need to remedy that!
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Thank you kindly Betsy, I do hope you try it, it’s really one of my favourite vegetables and use it often. And no, you need not have the focaccia on hand, one of your wonderful artisan breads would work just as well.
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Creamy and delicious, you make celery appetizing 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Thanks CCU, in fact, I love celery root!
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This looks lovely and it is great it has no cream. I want to like celery, I do. I bought some recently but most of it is still in the fridge. Maybe I am Hungarian.
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Ha ha ha, Hungarians LOVE celery root. I hope you give it a chance Genie. May I suggest that you roast it in the oven to get the sweetness out of it. You won’t be disappointed.
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I tried celeriac for the first time last winter. I just had it mashed and was lovely, but it’s quite expensive here, even when “in season”.
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You know, silly me. I’ve never had celery root! This soup sounds incredibly luxurious!
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Oh you must, SM, you absolutely MUST try this wonderful vegetable. Be sure to come back and tell me what you thought.
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I simply LOVE celeriac. I paid $7.50 for the last one. The checkout lady at Safeway thought I was crazy. But then she never tasted your soup Eva. Oh this must be lovely!!!!!!!!
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Thanks Zsuzsa, our local green grocer sell them scrubbed clean of all the sand in the nurly parts, which I prefer because I hate paying for the parts I will discard! They are not cheap here either, but like you I love them and therefore pay the price.
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Hello Eva,
I am back so soon. 🙂
Eva how would you like to join us and write a post describing your ideal Easter Menu? No need to cook for it, just use your previous posts and provide a link to them. Elisabeth invited me to make one up and now in turn you are one of two people I would like to join. Actually I am quite interested where it would lead. I hope you will take up the invite. Read more about it on my blog. There I supplied the link to Elisabeth’s blog and to the other Eva’s blog [in Hungarian] who started this years menu challenge. I gather there was one last year too. What do you say friend?
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Thank you Zsuzsa, I am most honoured that you would offer this lovely opportunity to me! I am hosting an actual Easter dinner for my husbands family on Easter Sunday, but my Easter with my family isn’t until mid-April. I’ll need to check out what the requirements are before I commit, but rest assured, this is the most flattering invite — to be in such good company. Koszonom szépen.
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Holy cow… $7.50? I think you can buy a huge root of the stuff the size of a white cabbage for about €1.50 here! Oh well… other parts of the world get cheap blueberries or exotic fruits… France gets cheap celeriac. Somehow I don’t feel that lucky :p
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It sounds extravagant! Yesterday I paid $1.49/lb.
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Eva, the soup looks really really creamy even though without cream. And it’s easy to make too.
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Thank you kindly Angie, it was a very tasty soup and really not a splurge for calories either!
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This looks beautiful Eva! And I too have heard that about celery and calories! 😛
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Thanks Lorraine, it’s a free snack! We probably consume 4-5 bunches a week!
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Looking at that serving in the photo, Eva, I would assume this dish resulted from a complicated recipe . Instead, it’s relatively simple and the result quite impressive. It certainly would make a fitting primo piatto for a holiday dinner. The fact that there’s no cream makes it even more so. I need to get me some celeriac.
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Thanks so much John, I use a lot of celeriac day to day, probably buy it three times a month. It’s such a versatile vegetable. The Hungarian version of this soup is much less creamy and thick, still quite tasty but not as pretty.
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Having a creamy recipe without any actual cream is awesome!
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Thanks Bill, the celeriac does impart the most amazing creamy flavour and texture.
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Hi Eva! Wow, This is a great looking soup. I love how you used some leftovers from the focaccia. That’s always nice, I like doing that.
You have so many wonderful recipes. Looking forward to the next one!
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Thank you so much Tudor, you are always so generous with your lovely words. Hope you have a great day.
On another note, have you checked out the first Canadian Commander of the International Space Station on Facebook? He posts some amazing photos from space and is truly inspirational. Yesterday he had some great shots of the UK. https://www.facebook.com/AstronautChrisHadfield
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Hi Eva, my words don’t your food justice. I have indeed, actually you shared a post with everyone and I followed him ever since.
He’s a lucky guy, he gets some great views from up there. I like his pics.
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Wow, thank you kindly Tudor.
Col. Hadfield is indeed lucky but what’s really lovely about him is that he is also humble. Makes it easy to like him.
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