Creamed Celery Root-Butternut Squash Soup
Have you dusted off and pulled out your crock pots? Island bound, ski slope found, and desert towns alike can enjoy a rich and savory soup this time of year. Celery’s long stalks has a name more traditionally known with its human counter parts. However, celery root (aka celeriac) and its knotty, gnarly root has a delicious sweet, smoky taste and aromatic flavor when cooked that invites its culinary inclusion upon fall. It hails from the parsley family, and with many of parsley’s great health benefits in tow, it’s also a great alternative for the starchier potato. It may be used as such in stews, casseroles, and gratins.
It’s rich is fiber, potassium, magnesium, and B6. Furthermore, it’s important to buy this root vegetable organic as celery is ranked as one of the vegetables on the highly sprayed pesticide list. It has calming, antiseptic, and anti allergic properties. It’s thought to help sustain a healthy appetite, improve indigestion, vision, and metabolism. It is a helpful friend to the liver and the gallbladder. One can also juice celeriac and stir with a bit of raw honey before a meal as to not overeat!
I am an organic/gluten-free personal chef for a delightful 90 year old British man, a retired professor of philosophy and religious studies with a Ph.D. from Columbia University. He is a fascinating, brilliant man known for his translations with Krishnamurti and his inquisitive books on the I-Ching. While in his career, he taught on a whole class alone on the Bhagavad Gita! He loves simple stews and soups. His palette lends towards sweet ginger brews, orange marmalade, warm goat’s milk with honey, and warm simple soups. This evening, I decided to try out this nutritionally dense, grounding, bone nourishing soup. I aim to feed him food that increases his ojas, that vital life force to help sustain his energy, nourish his tissues and central awareness. My aim is to share these nourishing recipes with you too, of course.
Have an adventurous go with the often ignored delicious celery root and let me know what your bones, tissues, and taste buds think!
Recipe:
Begin by baking your butternut squash. See baking instructions below in recipe.
Though this gnarly root may seem a bit intimidating, it is rather easy to work with. Begin by slicing off the more knotted side of the root. A peeler most likely will not be strong enough, so slice off the sides of the root vegetable all the way around with a Chef’s knife and chop into 1-2 ” cubes. Set aside and follow rest of recipe.
4 T ghee
1 small white onion, chopped
1 smaller sized butternut squash (Bake: Cut the butternut squash in half lengthwise and place flesh side down on a foil lined baking sheet. Bake at 400 F for 30 to 40 minutes. The squash will be soft and tender when it has cooked through. Remove seeds and fibrous strings and scoop out. Set aside in a bowl.)
1 T minced garlic
1 T curry powder
1 to 2 tsps ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp dried thyme
Sea salt and black pepper
1 T maple syrup, grade B
1 celery root bulb, peeled and cut into 1- to 2-inch chunks
1 1/2- 2 cups chicken or veggie stock
1/2 to 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, to taste. (Make your own with my recipe here!)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro or parsley for garnish
PROCEDURE:
Melt ghee in deep medium sized soup pot on medium heat. Once the ghee has melted, add the spices and herbs and let them infuse in the ghee for 1-2 minutes. Then add the onions and garlic and cook until onions become soft and translucent, about 4-5 minutes. Then add your shakes of S & P.
Add the celery root cubes and coat them in the spicy ghee sauce, completely coating the cubes. Then add your stock and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer, and cover, allowing it to cook for another 15-20 min.
Allow it to cool, add the maple syrup and then puree in the blender with the butternut squash, or use a hand immersion blender if you have one. Then return the soup to the pot, add the almond milk and warm if needed. Feel free to make any ingredient adjustments at this time! Garnish with fresh cilantro or parsley. You may also serve with cultured sour cream. I just served it to the professor with some gluten-free toast lathered with ghee and his remark was, ‘first class job treasure’. Adapt it as you may and hopefully you’ll enjoy it as much as the professor did.
Enjoy!
To your bones delight,
Whitney
