That’s right, I’m getting all Food Network on you by using an ingredient that you’ve probably never touched in your life. In fact, the video for this blog post is only my second time making this recipe, and my second time ever working with celery root. The first time I used it was a couple weeks ago when I decided I’d try it out and came up with this recipe.
So what’s celery root? Is it actually the root part of celery? Not really, no. It’s actually in the same family as things like celery and parsley, but this particular vegetable is a root vegetable that grows under the ground like a turnip or carrots. It has a flavor like celery, but rather than fibrous stalks, it’s made up of a starchy bulb root. So flavor- and texture-wise, it’s kind of between celery and a potato.
Now that we know what we’re working with, let’s get started!
Ingredients:
2 tbsp. butter
1 large celery root, or 2 medium-small roots
1 onion
salt
6-8 carrots
1 clove (½ tsp.) garlic, minced
dried parsley
chili powder
ground nutmeg
fresh ground pepper
1 32-oz. box gluten-free chicken broth
⅔ c. cream
⅓ c. milk
Directions:
1. Dice onion and clean and chop celery root into small chunks. Melt butter in large soup pot, then add celery root and onion. Add a few dashes of salt to help draw out moisture. Stir vegetables until coated in melted butter and salt is evenly distributed. Cover with lid and allow to sweat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. While celery root and onion is sweating, clean and dice carrots. Once onion is translucent and celery root has softened, add carrots, stir to combine, and sweat another 15 minutes covered, stirring occasionally.
3. Once a carrot can be cut with the edge of a spoon, add garlic, parsley to taste, a couple dashes of chili powder, a dash or a few grinds of nutmeg, and salt and pepper as needed. Add chicken broth, making sure vegetables are covered. Cover with lid and simmer for thirty minutes.
4. Using blender, food processor, or stick blender, blend soup until uniform, slowly adding cream and milk so fat can help the mixture smooth out as it blends.
5. If soup cools during blending, reheat in pot until warmed through. Serve by the bowlful, and watch as everyone asks for seconds.
That’s it. That’s how you make epic soup. And not only is it good hot on a cold night, it’s also great cold on a warm day. And I don’t even normally like cold soup.
What if you’re vegetarian or vegan? That one’s easy: swap oil for the butter, and use coconut milk, rice milk, soy milk, or a nut milk for the cream and milk. Coconut milk would be really good due to the thicker consistency. And then just swap vegetable broth for the chicken broth, and you’re set.
I hope you guys like this amazing gluten-free soup recipe, and will start experimenting with new ingredients in your own kitchen! Leave your thoughts in a comment below, or get in touch with me directly by filling out the form on the contact page.
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