Winter

Waste Not, Want Not Soup

March  3, 2017
4.3
3 Ratings
Photo by Janet Rörschåch
  • Serves 1 for 3 days-worth of lunches
Author Notes

The celery was looking dejected and appalling. There were two choices before me. Use it or lose it. Sitting above it were 2 celery roots that I had made plans for, but they too found a place in the back of the fridge. There they sat forlornly wondering if their destiny was the bin as well.

One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to say NO! to food waste. Even with careful weekly food planning, I still erred on the side of purchasing too much. My vow to not shop until I cleaned the fridge out seemed to be tested weekly, -I NEED MILK!- but I am getting better at this, as slow as it seems.

This is really basic cooking technique. Sweat the vegetables, add water or stock; simmer until tender; whiz through the standup blender or use your emersion wand; stir in the cream and season to your taste. Done.

I added a dollop of Icelandic yogurt blended with vibrant bits of chillies and biting chunks of scallions plus my own homemade gluten free Zweiback toast.

Warming, comforting, subtly hued with the two flavors of celery. Winner for my mouth and my New Year’s resolution. A keeper this. —Janet Rörschåch

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 2 tablespoons of fat, oil, bacon lard, clarified butter. All work well
  • 2 bunches celery
  • 2 celeriac roots (celery root)
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider or white wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon salt (this is up to you how much you use.)
  • 2 quarts water or chicken stock
  • 4 tablespoons heavy cream
  • 4 ounces plain Icelandic yogurt or your favorite plain yogurt
  • 1 green chili
  • 2 green onions
  • 1 piece Zweiback toast or your favorite style of crouton
Directions
  1. Clean and wash vegetables. Roughly chop celery and cherry root. Mince garlic clove.
  2. Heat oil in appropriately sized pot until almost smoking. Add onions and celery. Reduce heat. Stir. Pop lid on top to allow vegetables to sweat.
  3. Once vegetables begin to change appearance and look more opaque, sprinkle with a bit of salt. Add celery root and garlic. Then add vinegar and enough water or stock to cover vegetables.
  4. Bring to simmer and allow to cook until vegetables are tender. Expect anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, depending on how roughly you chopped your vegetables.
  5. Allow soup to cool for at least 10 minutes before blending. (No burns allowed here or horrible messes to clean up because I created a vacuum in my blender and pressure blew the cover and soup now drips from my cabinets. Been there, done both. Learn from my mistakes, please. I beg you.)
  6. While soup is cooking, chop chilies and scallions and mix with yogurt. Set aside or refrigerate until ready to use.
  7. Blend until silky smooth. Stir in heavy cream. Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking.
  8. Pour soup into heated bowl, dollop with some yogurt, and place your Zweiback on top. Time to eat.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Patricia Hagan
    Patricia Hagan
  • Janet Rörschåch
    Janet Rörschåch
  • Dale
    Dale

5 Reviews

Patricia H. March 3, 2017
Love celery root and now a new,recipe to try. Thank you
 
Janet R. March 3, 2017
Thank you Pat. Hope you enjoy it. Very user friendly.
 
Janet R. March 3, 2017
Hi Dale--Or add celery root to your shopping list. ;) Thank you for visiting. Much appreciated.
 
Dale March 3, 2017
Oh, I do... but like yours did, it often ends up at the back, starting to look rather ragged and ends up in purées and soups...
 
Dale March 3, 2017
Funny... I made the same resolution. I've got me some "hairy" carrots that are going to go the same as this celery/celeriac recipe! And when I find a celery root at the back of my fridge, I'm making this!