Credit: Illustration By Jason Stout

Soup

Cream of Celery Root

Although available in most supermarkets, the knobby, gnarly celeriac (celery root) has never achieved wild popularity in the United States. It’s common all over Europe, prized for its delicate celery flavor (without the bother of strings) and loaded with strengthening vitamins and minerals. This recipe, adapted from Elizabeth David’s French Provincial Cooking, first published in England in 1960, is a lovely simple potage that will open your beloved’s palate and heart. Can be made ahead and rewarmed. Recipe makes four servings: You’ll have some left for the next day’s lunch.

½-¾ pounds celery root, washed, peeled, and cut into 2-inch pieces

½ pound potatoes, washed, peeled, and cut into 2-inch pieces

1-2 cups milk

Salt and white pepper

1 tablespoon butter, preferably unsalted

Chopped celery leaves for garnish (optional)

Place the pieces of celery root and potato in a large pot filled with cold, salted water. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook till vegetables are soft, 15-20 minutes. In a blender, puree the vegetables and a cup of the cooking liquid. Blend in enough milk to achieve the desired consistency and add salt and pepper to taste. Warm soup just before serving, swirl in the butter, and garnish with a sprinkle of celery leaves. – MM Pack

This article appears in February 10 • 2006.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

SUPPORT US

Mick Vann is a retired Austin chef who is a food writer and restaurant critic, cookbook author, restaurant consultant, and recipe developer. He moonlights as a University of Texas horticulturist with a propensity for ethnic eats and international food, particularly of the Asian persuasion, but he also knows his way around a plate of soul food or barbecue.

MM Pack is a food writer/historian and private chef who divides her time between Austin and San Francisco. A regular contributor to The Austin Chronicle and Edible Austin, she’s been published in Gastronomica, The San Francisco Chronicle, Oxford Encyclopedia of Food & Drink in America, Nation’s Restaurant News, Scribner's Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, The Dictionary of Culinary Biography, and Southern Foodways Alliance’s Cornbread Nation 1.

Kate Thornberry worked in renowned Austin restaurants for 30 years while pursuing a reasonably successful career in music. She began contributing to the Chronicle in 1988 and became a regular contributor to the food section in 2006.

Mexico City native Claudia Alarcón has made Austin home since 1984. She worked her way through college in the local restaurant industry, graduating from the University of Texas in 1999. She has been a Chronicle contributor for 15 years and presents lectures and workshops on topics related to the foodways of Mexico, both locally and internationally.

Wes Marshall is the author of What's a Wine Lover To Do? (Artisan) and The Wine Roads of Texas (Maverick), as well as the Executive Producer of the PBS television series of the same name. Wes has written for The Austin Chronicle since 1999, covering wine, cocktails, food, and travel.