Cream of Celery Root Soup and Truffle Oil Celery Seed Crostini

Cream of Celery Root Soup

1 large celery root (3/4 lb), cubed

1 large onion

3 large cloves garlic

6 stalks celery, strings removed, reserve leafy tops

2 tsp ground black pepper

3 C chicken (or veggie) stock (3 T concentrated stock + 3 C water)

1/3 C dry sherry

3 C whole milk

3 T flour

Extra Virgin Olive oil (EVOO)

Immersion blender

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 F

2. Dice large onion

3. Roughly mince garlic

4. Remove strings from celery, roughly dice

5. To clean celery root, cut the leafy top and root-like rough bottom off so

that the celery bulb root has a flat top and bottom that is stable on the cutting board surface. With a sharp chef’s knife, follow the contour of the root, and trim the brown outer surface off of the root so that the white inner part of the root is exposed, rotating the root until all of the brown outer surface is removed. Trim off any remaining brown outer surface.

6. Dice the celery root into small ¼ inch cubes.

7. Add about 3-4 T EVOO to coat bottom of thick bottom soup pot (dutch oven)

8. Add half of the diced celery root cubes, onion, garlic, and celery to the

pot and sauté on med-low, about 15-20 min until the onions are translucent and celery root cubes have softened.

9. Add about 1 tsp ground black pepper to the sautéing vegetables.

10. Toss the reserved half of celery root cubes to coat in EVOO, salt, and pepper. Roast the cubes on a foil lined cookie sheet at 400 F for about 15 min, turning mid-way through, or until cubes are golden brown on all sides. Set aside.

11. To the sautéed vegetables, add the dry sherry and allow the alcohol to boil off for about 1 min.

12. To this, add the 3 C of soup stock, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 15-20 min.

13. To ¼ C cold water, add the 3 T flour and mix thoroughly to break up any lumps.

14. Add the flour-water mixture to the 3 C of whole milk.

15. Turn off heat to soup. With the immersion blender, puree soup until smooth, slowly adding the 3 C of whole milk and flour mixture.

16. Return the soup to very low (warm) heat, and stir. The soup should have a smooth and velvety consistency.

17. Add the roasted celery root cubes to the soup at this time.

18. Serve drizzled with EVOO, garnish with reserved celery stalk leaves, and serve with truffle oil celery seed crostini.

Truffle oil Celery Seed Crostini:

1 loaf crusty French bread

2 T freshly chopped Italian flat-leaf parsely

1 clove garlic finely minced

½ tsp ground black pepper

¼ tsp Kosher salt

¼ tsp celery seed

¼ C Parmesan (or Romano) cheese

Truffle oil (white or black)

EVOO

Wire cooling rack

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 F (Oven should be pre-heated from the roasted celery root)

2. Line a cookie sheet with foil

3. Place a wire cooling rack on the lined cookie sheet

4. Slice the French bread on a bias

5. Finely mince the parsely and garlic

6. Place the slices of bread in a large bowl

7. Toss bread to coat with EVOO, parsley, salt, pepper, celery seed, garlic, and cheese. Lightly coat with truffle oil. Note: Some of the garlic, parsley and cheese may remain on the bottom of the bowl—lightly rub some of the bread slices on the bottom of the bowl if this is the case.

8. Place coated bread slices on the wire cooling rack on the lined cookie sheet. Drizzle each of the crostini with truffle oil. Sprinkle lightly again with celery seed.

9. Bake crostini for about 10 min or until tops are golden brown, turn drizzle again with truffle oil, and continue to bake until the other sides are golden brown.