Hairy Bikers Celeriac and Apple Soup

Hairy Bikers celeriac and apple soup pairs 750g of celeriac with three eating apples and finishes with crispy bacon. It comes from Meat Feasts, one page before their pea and ham soup, and serves six at about 310 calories a bowl. Allow an hour and a half, because celeriac takes a while to peel.

They write in Meat Feasts that the eating apples bring this root vegetable soup to life. They call it a perfect balance of sweet and savoury, finished with crispy bacon and a spoonful of crème fraîche. Celeriac on its own is savoury and mild, so the apples are doing the balancing.

The apples get fried in butter before anything else goes in the pan. Five minutes of browning turns their sugar into something closer to caramel, which is where the sweetness in the finished soup comes from. Raw apple simply cannot do that.

Hairy Bikers Celeriac and Apple Soup

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Simmering Cuisine:British Courses:Soup

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 25 minutesCook time:1 hour 5 minutesRest time: minutesTotal time:1 hour 30 minutesServings:6 servingsCalories:310 kcal Best Season:Winter

Description

Crispy bacon and crème fraîche thinned with milk go on at the table. Underneath is celeriac, carrot and potato simmered with buttered apples, then blended completely smooth. This Hairy Bikers celeriac and apple soup serves six.

Ingredients

• 3 eating apples, about 500g
• 50g butter
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 750g celeriac, cut into small chunks
• 1 large carrot, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 medium potatoes, about 250g, cut into small chunks
• 3 or 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1.3 litres vegetable or chicken stock
• flaked sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, to serve
• 4 tbsp crème fraîche, to serve
• 2 tbsp milk, to serve

Instructions

1. Brown the apples: Peel and slice the apples. Melt half the butter in a large saucepan and fry the apples for 5 minutes, turning them, until lightly browned. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and set aside.
2. Fry the vegetables: Add the rest of the butter and the oil to the pan. Cook the onions, celeriac and carrot gently for 15 minutes, stirring now and then.
3. Add the rest: Return the apples, then add the garlic, potatoes, thyme and bay leaf. Cook for 3 minutes more, stirring.
4. Simmer: Pour in the stock, season with black pepper and bring to the boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook for about 25 minutes, until the celeriac and carrot are very soft.
5. Blend: Take the pan off the heat and let it cool a little. Remove the thyme and bay leaf, then blend until very smooth. Add a splash of water if it is too thick.
6. Finish: Grill the bacon until crisp and snip it into pieces. Mix the crème fraîche with the milk. Ladle the soup into bowls, add a spoonful of the crème fraîche and scatter the bacon over.

Keywords:hairy bikers celeriac and apple soup, hairy bikers apple and celeriac soup, celeriac and apple soup hairy bikers, hairy bikers celeriac and apple soup recipe, celeriac soup with bacon

FAQs

What does celeriac actually taste like?

Like celery, but rounder and nuttier. It is the root of a celery plant, so the flavour is familiar, though it loses the stringy sharpness and turns sweet and earthy once cooked.

That is why it works with apple. On its own celeriac is savoury and quite plain, so it takes sweetness well without being overwhelmed. It also blends to a much silkier texture than potato does.

Why are the apples taken out of the pan?

Because the vegetables need fifteen minutes after them, and apples cooked that long fall apart completely. Lifting them out and adding them back at the end of that fifteen keeps them in one piece.

It also stops them catching. The pan gets busier once the celeriac and carrot go in, and browned apple sitting underneath will burn before the celeriac has even softened.

Eating apples or cooking apples?

Eating apples here, about 500g, which is three of them. They hold their shape when fried and they are sweeter, which is what this soup wants against earthy celeriac.

That is the reverse of their parsnip and apple soup, where only sharp Bramleys will do because parsnips are already sweet. Match the apple to the vegetable, not to habit.

How do I prepare celeriac?

Cut the top and bottom flat so it sits still, then work down the sides with a knife rather than a peeler. The skin is knobbly and thick, and a peeler just skids across it.

Expect to lose a fair bit. A celeriac that gives you 750g of clean chunks will weigh nearer a kilo whole. Drop the pieces into water with a squeeze of lemon as you go, because cut celeriac browns as fast as apple.

Can I make it without the bacon?

Yes, since it is scattered on at the table rather than cooked into the soup. Use vegetable stock and the whole thing is vegetarian.

Season a little harder to make up for the salt, and toasted walnuts or fried breadcrumbs give back the crunch. Their lentil and bacon soup is the opposite case, where the bacon renders into the base at the start and cannot be taken out.