bacon and celeriac soup : Nigel Slater

I was very happy to receive this book in my Christmas stocking - 

 

A beautifully written and photographed book.

The very first entry - January 1st- is for celeriac and bacon soup and
yearning for something more simple and warming for supper (with snow being forecast for the next few days) I armed myself with the knobbly root and set to work.

Celeriac, it seems, is often overlooked in this country in favour of more smooth skinned vegetables such as swede or turnip,  but this is a huge shame as it has a delicious flavour. All the savouriness of celery translated into a root.

I first encountered celeriac as a teenager on family holidays in France where neat little mounds of it mixed with mustard mayonnaise graced every local charcuterie.

During our first spring with the allotment, I bought a few celeriac plants. They were very slow to grow and I think suffered a bit from - wait for it, rather DRY conditions! This was 2011 not 2012! But nevertheless produced some flavourful, albeit small veg.

The recipe in Nigel's book also pairs celeriac with mustard and was creamy and full of flavour.

 

 

 

As warming and cosy as a pair of woolly socks on a winter's night!