Recipe: Leek and Celeriac Soup

Recipe: Leek and Celeriac Soup

6 leeks, trimmed, sliced and washed, white and light green parts only

1 bulb celeriac, peeled and cubed

6 cups vegetable stock

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon tarragon

Salt and pepper to taste

Dash of cream or half and half, optional

Saute the leeks gently in butter or olive oil until they are fragrant and soft.   Add the celeriac, tarragon and stock, and simmer until vegetables are tender, approximately 20 minutes.  Using an immersion blender or food processor, process the soup until it is creamy and completely emulsified.  Stir in the mustard, a pinch of salt, and a good grind of black pepper.  Taste and adjust the seasonings to your liking, but use a gentle hand so the flavor of the leek and celery isn't masked.

When serving, add a tablespoon or two of cream or half and half, if you like, and swirl.

Ten days of soup, part 2

After a break of a few days while we worked through leftovers, the “ten days of soup” project resumed.  We’ve been able to expand slightly beyond soup, happily, though not too far beyond, while Aaron progresses through his orthodontic adventure.  The goal of the project is to make food interesting and tasty given the soup limitation.

All the soups start with a homemade vegetable stock. For now, most soups are blended with an immersion blender.

Day 6: split pea, made on a cold, rainy day.   I started making split pea soup in the pressure cooker a few years ago.  This has two advantages.  The beans don’t need to soak and cook quickly, so it only takes an hour to make a pot which means I don’t need to plan when I want to make it.    The other advantage is that the soup tastes great, better even, than the traditional long-cooked method. I think this is because pressure cooker holds flavor in rather than releasing it.

Day 7: leek and celeriac.  I cooked with celeriac for the first time last week and just loved it.  This week, I sauted 10 small leeks (a few cups), then added the celeriac, stock and tarragon.  The soup was finished with just a bit of dijon mustard and cream.  View the Recipe

Day 8: parmesan souffle with marinara sauce.  I had a parmesan souffle a few weeks ago at Le Monde in New York.  It was served with a heavenly sauce, but in looking at recipes this week I discovered the sauce tasted so good because it was based on butter, rounded out with cheese, cream, and lemon.  I like the idea of a sauce with souffle but needed to lower the guilt level.  In late summer I made and froze a big batch of marinara, made with ripe summer tomatoes from the farmers market, to tide us over through the winter.  It made a perfect sauce for the parmesan souffle, balancing the richness with some acidity and freshness.

Day 9: Polenta with chard and chevre -- comfort food.  It wasn’t a soup, but close enough.

Day 10:  Beet, tomato and cabbage with a Hungarian flair.   The beets roasted with red onions, olive oil and sweet paprika to caramelize the vegetables and toast the paprika.  This was simmered and pureed smooth in stock, and then crushed San Marzano pomodoro and regular green cabbage, finely chopped, went in.  The soup was finished with half-sharp paprika to give a bit of heat.

Ten days of soup, part 1

Aaron can’t chew for at least ten days, a byproduct of orthodontic work, and is limited to smoothies and pureed soup for the while.  I love soup so this is no problem for me, and have taken on the challenge to make the ten days of eating the same thing as interesting as possible, varied and tasty. 

Because the soups need to be pureed, all rely on a homemade stock and cooked vegetables, blended with the immersion blender. 

Day 1:  Butternut squash, flavored with the chipotle-adobo sauce I’m so enchanted with, and finished with a dash of half-and-half to smooth the chile flavor. 

Day 2:  Celeriac.  I hadn’t cooked with celeriac before, but had it on the list to try since last year’s trip to Paris, where it is served as a side salad in many cafes.  I used it as the main flavoring in this soup, and it has a lovely, delicate celery flavor.  The soup was finished with a touch of dijon mustard, a play on the typical french style of dressing served with the raw vegetable.  Celeriac is my new favorite soup base, not only because of the flavor, but because it has a silky texture when pureed and a fraction of the calories and carbs of potatoes.  It’s a perfect replacement for potato in soup.

Day 3: Mushroom, made with portobello and crimini in a long-simmered stock and pureed into smithereens.  I added chanterelle toward the end and did second, lighter puree.  Finished with just a touch of dry sherry and cream.

Day 4: Tomato-pepper, with roasted red and yellow onions, garlic and red peppers with olive oil and a teaspoon of half-sharp paprika.  The paprika toasted while the vegetables roasted.  If summer tomatoes were available I would have roasted them as well, but used a can of San Marzano pomodoro, which are a lot more flavorful than winter tomatoes.