What is Celeriac???

For all those first-time CSAers, in the last few weeks of the season, you're bound to get Celeriac (or celery root) in your share. You probably haven't heard of this vegetable before and if your local grocery store even carries it, you would have passed it right by because it's the ugliest vegetable I think I've ever come across. It resembles Cousin It - hairy and mis-shapen, but don't be fooled, it produces delicious flavors when you cook it right! Last year I made a celeriac mash with apples or something, but this year I decided to make a soup with it. I haven't tasted the soup yet because it's still cooking up on my stove, but my apartment smells sweet and delicious.

Celeriac Vegetable Soup
Ingredients:
1/2 tbsp butter
1 celery root
1 leek (white part only)
1 small-medium potato, thinly sliced
1-2 carrots
1 celery rib
1 bay leaf
1 sprig of thyme
sea salt & pepper for tasting
2 cups veg stock
drizzle of milk or half and half

--> Melt the butter in your soup pot. Add the vegetables, bay leaf, thyme and some salt. Cook over medium heat for a few minutes to get the veggies cooking. Add the vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low, simmer and cover for 20 minutes or so. Add your milk and simmer for another 5-10 minutes. Taste for salt and pepper - and voila!

The beauty of this soup is that you can really use any vegetables that you have in your fridge at the time. I used all my carrots up in the carrot bread last week, but they are generally a staple in my soups, so throw them in if you have them. Same goes for the potatoes and celery. You could use shallots if you have them in your fridge also. Anything goes! A nice finishing touch to the soup is a scoop of rice mixed in or on top also.