Celeriac and Butter Bean Soup

Celeriac and Butter Bean Soup

They say the celeriac is the ugliest vegetable, well not all of us can be supermodels but just because we’re lumpy and bumpy doesn’t mean we’re not tasty in our own way.

If you’ve not eaten one, the humble celeriac tastes like a little like a cross between celery and parsley but with a deeper, nuttier flavour.  It’s wonderful served thinly sliced in salads or with fish but it becomes gloriously silky and creamy when blitzed in a soup.

I’m combining it with a few other veg plus some butter beans for some much needed plant protein, I’m also roasting some for some crunchy croutons that go on at the end. Serving it here with a simple pistachio and coriander pesto which sounds all kind of fancy but actually just delivers a bowl of elevated creamy comfort and what’s not to love about that?

Ingredients:

For the soup:

• Olive oil and butter
• ½ onion – chopped
• 1 medium leek – chopped
• 1 large potato – chopped
• ½ celeriac – chopped
• 2 garlic cloves – chopped
• 1 teaspoon thyme leaves – chopped
• 2/3 jar of butter beans – roughly 400g (I used Bold Beans Queen Butter Beans)
• 1 litre vegetable stock
• Salt and pepper 

Roasted Bean Croutons:

• 1/3 jar of butter beans (20ughly 150g)
• Fresh thyme
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil

For the pesto:

• 40g fresh coriander (leaves and stalks
• 50g strong cheddar cheese
• 40g pistachio nuts
• Salt and pepper
• The juice of half a lemon
• Plenty of olive oil

The Soup:

Place a pan on a medium heat and add a glug of olive oil and a nob of butter.  Add the onions, leeks and potatoes and stir well.  Allow them to saute gently for 3 or 4 minutes.  Stir in the garlic and thyme followed by the celeriac.  Place the lid on, turn the heat to low and allow the vegetables to sweat for 7 minutes or so, until they are soft. (Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.)

Remove the lid, pour in the butter beans and stock and add a little salt and pepper.  Allow it to gently bubble away for 15 minutes.  Then set aside to cool for 5 minutes before blitzing to a smooth soup with a blender.

The Croutons:

Heat the oven to 200C / 392F

Place the beans into an oven proof pan, season with salt and pepper and add the thyme.  Drizzle generously with olive oil and stir well.  Roast for at least 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until the beans are darkly golden and crispy.

The Pesto:

Place all the ingredients into a food processor and blitz until smooth.  Add a little more olive oil.  You want a loose oily texture.

Serve the soup with the croutons on top and the pesto drizzled all over.

For more soup recipes, check these out on Dom in the Kitchen.

Eat and of course, enjoy!