In our house, we have something called “the celery club.” It is a kind of sorority for girls who love celery, something that we invented to convince the littlest chef to try the celery in a stir fry about a year ago. Now that celery is an old friend, we’ve stepped up our celery game with this whimsical and delicious “double celery soup.” Why “double?” you ask. Because the soup is made with both celery root (a type of celery grown primarily for its root, sometimes referred to as “celeriac”) and ubiquitous celery tops or stalks.
Raw, the celery root has the texture of a turnip; cooked, it is like an al dente potato. But it packs an early flavor that give this soup wonderful depth. If you like mushroom soup, this will hit some similar notes with a freshness that mushrooms can’t quite pull off.
I regret that I didn’t discover celery root until I was in my late 30’s. Just think of all that wasted time! Now that I am a believer, this has become my favorite preparation for celery root, and it is just the thing to serve when we need to convene a meeting of the celery club!
