Celeriac and Apple Soup

The celeriac in the shops are looking great at the moment, in their wonderfully gnarly glory. I do like celeriac, but it is a ‘grown up’ flavour, which I’m sure I would have hated as a child. So this soup is an attempt to make the knobbly old celeriac more child-friendly – whizzed up into a smooth soup and sweetened with apple. To my surprise my girls actually liked it! Definitely a winner of a winter’s lunch.

Celeriac and Apple Soup (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soya-free, sesame-free, gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan)

serves 4

1 onion, roughly chopped
2 sticks of celery, peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 large or one small celeriac, peeled and chopped into chunks
2 apples, peeled and chopped
1 tsp thyme, fresh if possible but dried is fine
700ml vegetable stock
salt and pepper to taste

– Sweat the onion and celery in 1 tbsp oil until soften but not browned.

– Add the celeriac and apple, thyme and about 1/2 tsp salt..

– Pour over the hot stock and bring to a simmer.

– Simmer for 156-20 minutes, until the celeriac is thoroughly cooked through.

– Blitz in a blender or with an immersion blender until totally smooth. Taste and season. Serve scattered with herbs (chives are nice), black pepper and a drizzle of good quality olive oil.

Celeriac, Apple and Thyme Soup

It’s snowing today in the UK – proper piles of fluffy white stuff everywhere! We normally have a little sprinkle of snow that melts almost immediately, so a decent amount of snow is a reason to celebrate.

School was initially open for the girls, and we had a rather white knuckle drive there on the icy roads, only to decide it was a bad idea and immediately turn around and come home. So the rest of today is a snow day! 🙂

We’ve already sledged to the shops and got rather cold in the process – so this winter warmer of a soup (chosen due to yet another gnarly celeriac in this week’s veg box) was most welcome for lunch. I can’t say the girls loved the flavour of celeriac – maybe it’s a bit of an adult flavour, but D and I enjoyed it greatly. We actually added a bit of horseradish at the end but in reality it didn’t need it, and had a perfectly interesting flavour without.

Celeriac, Apple and Thyme Soup (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soya-free, gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan)

serves 4

1 onion, chopped
1 leek, sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 celeriac, peeled and roughly chopped
1 sweet apple, peeled, cored and chopped
1 small bunch of thyme, leaves picked
700ml vegetable stock

– Sweat off the onion and leek in the oil until nicely soft but not browned

– Add the celeriac and apple and half the thyme leaves. Stir to coat in the onion mix.

– Pour over the hot stock.

– Simmer gently for 20-30 minutes until the celeriac is cooked through.

– Blitz in a liquidizer. Taste and season as required.

– Serve topped with more thyme leaves and a drizzle of olive oil.

Winter ‘Slaw

Winter is the perfect time to ring the changes with coleslaw. All those cabbages are at their best and the wintery feel gives the perfect excuse to use different flavours.

Red cabbage, spiked with green coriander, white spring onions and crunchy sunflower seeds make a tasty crunchy side that is – in the words of Michel Roux Jr. – ‘pretty as a picture’ (incidentally, that scores one point in Masterchef bingo).

Winter Slaw (dairy-free, nut-free, sesame-free, gluten-free, can be egg-free if you use egg-free mayo, vegetarian and vegan)

serves 4

1/2 red cabbage, finely sliced
2 tbsps sunflower seeds, toasted
1/2 red apple, finely sliced
1 spring onion, sliced
1 tbsps coriander
1/4 tsp salt
pepper to taste
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp vinegar
2 tbsps mayonnaise (use egg-free if needed)

– Toss the apple in the lemon juice to prevent it browning.

– Mix together the vinegar and mayo.

– Add all the other ingredients except half the sunflower seeds, mix well.

– Top with the remaining sunflower seeds and an extra sprinkle of coriander.

Oaty Apple Crumble

If you’re British people presume that you live off apple crumble and custard. To be honest it’s never been my favourite, mainly due to bad school food consisting of various sponge puddings drowned in lumpy custard! Having revisited Apple Crumble as an adult I can appreciate it’s a fantastic, quick and easy warming pudding…. and the biggest bonus is it very easily converts to being dairy-free. It definitely works best with cooking apples and then the apple layer goes soft and fluffy. I used eating apples which worked fine but be aware that the apples keep some texture and make sure that’s to your taste!

Oaty Apple Crumble (dairy-free, egg-free, soya-free, nut-free, vegetarian, vegan)