Celeriac and Parsnip Soup

Start bij preparing your vegetables. Peel and cut the celeriac, parnsip and potato in equal chunks. Put the chopped celeriac, parsnip and potato in a bowl. Drizzle the lemon juice over it and toss to coat, to prevent it from changing colors.

Heat the oil in your soup pot, over medium heat. Add the chopped leek and shallot and fry them for 5 minutes. Add the celeriac mixture and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the white wine and let that reduce before you add your stock. Then add the stock. It needs to at least cover the vegetables. I keep some extra stock around in case I need to add more after blending the soup. Leave this to simmer for 20 minutes.

Now make your basil oil. Heat some water in a small pan and once the water is boiling blanch your basil leaves for 10 seconds. Then quickly remove them from the water. Drain them well, making sure you press out all the water. Put the basil into a food processor along with the oil, garlic and lemon juice. Process until you reach a smooth texture. Season with salt and pepper.

Now finish the soup. Blend the soup to a smooth consistency using an immersion blender. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can process it in small batches in a blender. Then put the processed soup back into the pot. At this point you can add the cream and heat until everything is heated through. I leave it out and substitute it with extra stock. The soup is creamy enough because of the potatoes.

Serve soup topped with a drizzle of basil oil. And a grissine wrapped with parmaham.