Celeriac Soup With Sage & Hazelnuts

Celeriac Soup With Sage & Hazelnuts

I am always surprised at how unpopular celeriac is as a vegetable โ€” and itโ€™s not because people donโ€™t like it, but rather because they forget about it, or maybe donโ€™t know what to do with it. As itโ€™s just come into season, if there was ever a time to start cooking with this delicious winter vegetable, itโ€™s now. 

Celeriac has a subtle, celery-like flavour with nutty overtones. You can do a lot with it: itโ€™s fantastic cooked and mashed with lots of butter and freshly ground black pepper, or sliced and layered with potatoes in a gratin. It goes really well alongside a crab cake. Itโ€™s also delicious as a remoulade โ€” just coarsely grate celeriac and apple, mix them with crรจme fraรฎche, lemon, Dijon mustard and flat-leaf parsley. 

Still, my favourite way to eat it is as a soup, and the addition of the sage and hazelnut pesto adds delicious crunchy texture and earthy flavours. You can make it a few days ahead and it freezes really well, so double the recipe when youโ€™re making it, leaving a batch for a lazy day. I sometimes add a crumble of crispy smoky pancetta on top with the sage and hazelnut pesto, which is just so good.

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