A comforting soup from below ground - onions, potatoes, carrots and celery root, pureed with cumin and culantro.
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Peel and chop all the vegetables, reserving a small slice of celery root. In a large saucepan, melt the butter and saute the diced onions and celery until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the ground cumin and black pepper and saute another minute, until fragrant. Add the chopped culantro or cilantro and stir up well.
When the herbs have wilted slightly, add the rest of the ingredients and water (or broth) to cover. Bring to a boil and simmer about 30 minutes, or until all of the root vegetables are extremely tender. Meanwhile, cube the remaining slice of celery root and saute in a small frying pan with a little butter or oil until nicely browned on all sides. Add a splash of broth and cover the pan to steam the celery root cubes, but leave them with a little bite.
Remove from heat and let cool for a minute. Scoop the solids and broth into a food processor or blender and puree, in batches as needed, until smooth. Reheat in the original pot when ready to serve. Garnish with the sauteed celery root and some diced scallions or fresh cilantro leaves. Serve with sour cream and hot sauce on the side.
Comforting and simple. I found long leaves of culantro, which is just a little heartier than cilantro, but cilantro plus its stems is a very good substitute. I do like to grind small quantites of whole spices together in a small mortar, as indicated, but that's just me being a spice control freak.
In addition to everything else, diced avocado would be a nice garnish. Also maybe a dusting of nutmeg.
This soup just screams for around a half cup of heavy cream, but I resisted. I wanted more of a weeknight tonic dish. But if you give in, add it at the end, after pureeing, and heat gently just to a bare simmer.
Ingredients
Directions
Peel and chop all the vegetables, reserving a small slice of celery root. In a large saucepan, melt the butter and saute the diced onions and celery until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the ground cumin and black pepper and saute another minute, until fragrant. Add the chopped culantro or cilantro and stir up well.
When the herbs have wilted slightly, add the rest of the ingredients and water (or broth) to cover. Bring to a boil and simmer about 30 minutes, or until all of the root vegetables are extremely tender. Meanwhile, cube the remaining slice of celery root and saute in a small frying pan with a little butter or oil until nicely browned on all sides. Add a splash of broth and cover the pan to steam the celery root cubes, but leave them with a little bite.
Remove from heat and let cool for a minute. Scoop the solids and broth into a food processor or blender and puree, in batches as needed, until smooth. Reheat in the original pot when ready to serve. Garnish with the sauteed celery root and some diced scallions or fresh cilantro leaves. Serve with sour cream and hot sauce on the side.
Comforting and simple. I found long leaves of culantro, which is just a little heartier than cilantro, but cilantro plus its stems is a very good substitute. I do like to grind small quantites of whole spices together in a small mortar, as indicated, but that's just me being a spice control freak.
In addition to everything else, diced avocado would be a nice garnish. Also maybe a dusting of nutmeg.
This soup just screams for around a half cup of heavy cream, but I resisted. I wanted more of a weeknight tonic dish. But if you give in, add it at the end, after pureeing, and heat gently just to a bare simmer.
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