Celeriac Soup With Sage & Hazelnuts

Celeriac Soup With Sage & Hazelnuts

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

Celeriac has a subtle, celery-like flavour with nutty overtones. You can do a lot with it: it’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. It’s also delicious as a remoulade — just coarsely grate celeriac and apple, mix them with crème fraîche, 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 you’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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