When your CSA gives you a monstrous-looking bulb of celeriac, you make celery root soup. Or, at least that’s what I did. If you’re reading this and thinking, “C’mon, what kind of kid eats celery root soup?!?” Well, mine. She’ll eat most anything in soup form — so soup’s on the menu a lot around around here. You can make this vegan by using olive oil instead of butter — I used butter, well, because I’m naughty.

Celery Root Soup

2 small onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, smashed
1 bulb of celery root or celeriac, cubed
2 Tbsp of butter or olive oil
2 32 ounce boxes of vegetable stock (I use the low sodium variety, but you could also use water)
2 sprigs of tarragon
1 Tsp salt
Fresh cracked pepper

Heat the butter or olive in a dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot and add the onion, garlic, and celery root. Allow vegetables to soften until lightly brown (reduce heat before the garlic burns). Rough chop two sprigs of tarragon and add to the vegetable mixture. Then, pour two boxes of vegetable stock or water to the pot, bring to a boil, and then reduce to a brisk simmer until celery root cubes are soft and can be pierced with a knife or fork. When the soup has cooled slightly, use an immersion blender to puree until smooth. If you don’t have a hand blender, wait until the soup is cooled a bit more and use your blender.

I can’t tell you how good this soup is — it tastes so decadent and rich, but there’s very little dairy at all (just the butter used to sauté the vegetables). It reminds me of the amazing pureed vegetable soups you find all over Ireland. Now, if I only had some brown bread and butter to go with this…

Love,

The Lunch Lady