Celeriac soup: the vegetable that usually ends up in the stockpot
In Polish kitchens celeriac usually goes into the stockpot and then, often, into the bin. That is a waste, because blended it gives a soup that is silky, nutty and genuinely elegant, its creaminess coming mainly from the celeriac itself rather than the cream. Two things need doing properly: peel it thickly, since under that knobbly skin lies a hard fibrous layer, and add an apple — its acidity balances the earthiness of celeriac and makes the soup far more interesting.
Your own work in that: 22 min.
- Peeling and cutting 10 min
- Sweating 12 min
- Simmering 29 min
- Blending and serving 10 min
Step by step
0 / 6 donePeel the celeriac thickly
Cut off the top and bottom, stand the celeriac on the board and peel with a knife, going 5 mm deep. The knobbly skin and the layer just beneath it are hard and fibrous — they will not soften even with long cooking. Cut the flesh into 2 cm cubes.
Ingredients: 700 g celeriac · 1 pcs potato · 1 pcs apple · 1 pcs onion · 40 g butter · 900 ml vegetable stock · 1 pcs bay leaf · 1½ tsp salt · ½ tsp white pepper · 1 pinch nutmeg
TipPeeled celeriac <b>browns within minutes</b>. Drop the cubes straight into a bowl of cold water with lemon juice if you are not cooking immediately.
A knife, not a peeler; five millimetres deepSweat it in butter
Cook the chopped onion in butter 5 minutes, add the celeriac cubes and cook another 7 minutes over low heat, until they begin to soften and their surfaces turn glossy. Don't brown them — this soup should be creamy white, and browned edges tint it grey.
Twelve minutes in butter, no browningAdd the apple and potato
Add the diced potato and apple with the bay leaf, pour in the hot stock and bring to the boil. The apple is not an extravagance — its acidity balances the earthy, faintly bitter note of celeriac, and without it the soup is noticeably duller.
Simmer twenty-five minutes
Simmer with the lid ajar 25 minutes, until the celeriac is completely tender and collapses under a fork. Celeriac is firmer than potato and needs longer — undercooked, it leaves noticeable fibres in the blended soup.
Until the celeriac collapses under a forkBlend and sieve
Remove the bay leaf and blend 3 minutes until smooth. For a genuinely silky result, push it through a sieve (another 3–4 minutes) — it catches the last celeriac fibres a blender cannot break down. Stir in the cream, warm through without boiling and season with salt, white pepper and nutmeg.
Ingredients: 120 ml whipping cream (30%) · 60 g walnuts · ½ pcs apple · ½ pcs lemon, juice
Serve with walnuts and apple
Ladle into bowls and add toasted walnuts and a few fine matchsticks of raw apple sprinkled with lemon juice. That contrast is the point of this soup: a smooth base, crunchy nuts and sharp raw fruit.
Smooth, crunchy and sharp in one bowl
Before you start
Choosing a celeriac
Buy one that feels heavy for its size, with no soft patches and a dry, undamaged base. A light celeriac can be spongy or hollow inside — a common fault in this vegetable, and only visible once cut.
The roasted version
Roast the celeriac cubes 30 minutes at 220 °C instead of sweating them. The soup becomes darker, nuttier and considerably deeper, at the cost of its snowy whiteness.
With pear instead of apple
Pear gives a sweeter, gentler soup; it then needs the juice of a whole lemon at the end, as it brings less acid than apple.
How long it keeps
Four days in the fridge, and it freezes beautifully without the cream. Reheated it usually needs a splash of stock, since it thickens when cold.
