Anne Morgan Three slow hours in the oven give Delia Smith’s celeriac soup its flavour, with no butter, no frying and no cream. Celeriac, celery and an onion go into a casserole with stock and bay leaves, then the soup for 6 is blended smooth and topped with yoghurt and celery salt.
You’ll find it in How to Cook Book Three (2001), and again in Delia’s Vegetarian Collection (2002) and The Delia Collection: Soup (2003). In the Soup book she also points it out to anyone on a low-fat diet.
It’s a different pot from her celery soup with nutmeg, which starts in butter and ends with cream. The method is closer to her root vegetable soup, which uses the same low oven for carrots, swede and leeks.
In the vegetable guide of How to Cook Book Two, she says celeriac has the creaminess of potato with a subtle celery flavour. That’s what lets this soup taste rich without any cream, while the celery salt on top sharpens it.
Delia Smith’s Slow-Cooked Celery and Celeriac Soup
Course: SoupsCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy6
servings20
minutes3
hours20
minutes55
kcalPale, smooth and light, with a gentle celery flavour and a spoonful of yoghurt on every bowl.
Ingredients
- For the soup:
450g (1lb) celery stalks, weighed after trimming, leaves kept
450g (1lb) celeriac, weighed after peeling
1 medium onion, peeled
1.5 litres (2½ pints) hot vegetable stock, made with Marigold Swiss vegetable bouillon powder
salt and freshly milled black pepper
- To garnish:
6 rounded teaspoons natural yoghurt (or crème fraîche)
2 teaspoons celery salt
a few celery leaves
Directions
- Oven: Heat the oven to 140°C (120°C fan), gas mark 1.
- Prepare: Run a potato peeler down the outer celery stalks to strip off any stringy bits, then cut the celery, celeriac and onion into large chunks.
- Simmer: Put the vegetables in a lidded, flameproof casserole of about 3.5 litres with the stock, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Bring it up to a simmer on the hob, put the lid on and move it to the oven for 3 hours.
- Blend: Lift out the bay leaves, let the soup cool a little and blend it in batches until smooth.
- Serve: Pour it back into the casserole, bring it to a gentle simmer and check the seasoning. Ladle into hot bowls and top each with a spoonful of yoghurt, a sprinkle of celery salt and a few celery leaves.
Notes
- The outer celery stalks are fine for this, so if you buy a whole head, she suggests keeping the tender inner ones to eat raw.
- If your casserole can't go on the hob, my own way is to bring everything to a simmer in a saucepan, then tip it into a lidded ovenproof dish.
FAQs
What bread goes with it?
Her own choice is a celeriac and Lancashire cheese bread, printed on the facing page of the same book. It’s a quick loaf with no yeast: 175g of grated celeriac, 110g of crumbled Lancashire cheese, 175g of self-raising flour, 4 spring onions, ⅛ teaspoon of cayenne, an egg and 2 tablespoons of milk.
The rough dough is shaped into a round, topped with the rest of the cheese and baked at 190°C (170°C fan), gas mark 5, for 45 to 50 minutes. She likes it still warm and says leftovers are really good toasted.
How much celeriac should I buy?
About 600g, by my sums. That same vegetable guide warns that only three-quarters of what you buy can be used, once the thick skin and the knotted roots at the base are cut away, and her Soup book lists 570g to give the 450g you need.
Peel it thickly with a knife until only creamy-white flesh is left. If you’re preparing it ahead, drop the chunks into cold salted water so they don’t discolour, as she does.
Can I make it on the hob instead?
You can, but she puts its flavour down to the very slow cooking, so keep the heat as low as it will go. My own way is to keep the lid on at the barest simmer for about an hour, until the celeriac is very soft, giving it a stir now and then so nothing catches.
What else can I make with celeriac?
Plenty, as her vegetable guide has it roasted in the oven, boiled and mashed with an equal weight of potato, or raw in a salad, cut into fine matchsticks and dressed. Her coleslaw with celeriac uses it raw for Christmas.
Her purée of potato and celeriac with garlic, for 8, uses about twice as much celeriac as potato, in Delia’s Vegetarian Collection and again in Delia’s Happy Christmas. It’s a good use for the rest of the root if you bought a big one.
Can I freeze celeriac soup?
Yes, and well, in my experience, because there’s no cream or butter in it to split. Cool it quickly, freeze it in portions for up to 3 months, and add the yoghurt and celery salt only when you serve it.
Celeriac is at its best through the winter months, she says, so a batch in the freezer is a good way to keep it going.
