Cream of Celeriac Soup

Ingredients

25g salted butter
800g celeriac, scrubbed, unpeeled (I haven’t tried Unpeeled!) (600g, cubed/200g save for topping)
1 carrot, sliced thinly
1 potato, cut into 1cm dice
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 litre vegetable or chicken stock
200ml fromage frais
sea salt flakes & freshly ground black pepper
virgin olive oil for deep frying


Method

Melt the butter in a large, heavy-based saucepan and sauté the celeriac cubes, carrot, potato dice and garlic over a high heat for 5 minutes. Pour in stock, cover the pan and simmer gently for about 15 minutes, until all
the vegetables are tender.  Allow to cool slightly, before pouring half the pan contents into a blender.  Blitz to a creamy puree, and repeat with other half, then return puree to the saucepan with half the fromage frais, adding salt and extra vegetable stock to adjust consistency. Add pepper to taste. Reheat gently on a low heat.


Cut the remaining 200g celeriac into hair-like shreds using a knife, a coarse grater or mandolin. Heat the oil in a frying pan or deep fryer until very hot (about 180c). Sizzle the shreds in four batches for up to 2-3 minutes until golden and crisp. Drain and keep to one side. Serve the soup hot, topped with a swirl of the remaining fromage frais and the crispy shreds on top.

Serves 4 (makes 1.5 litres)