Celery Root Soup

First, peel and chop the celery root. Slice off the top and bottom and then slice around all sides to remove the peel. You should have a cylinder of clean celery root. Chop it into 1-inch cubes. My 4 pounds of celery root turned into about 7 cups when chopped.

Melt the butter and olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Once hot, add leeks and saute for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Do not let the leeks brown at all; turn down the heat if they start to. Add the garlic cloves and a pinch of salt and continuing sauteing until both the leeks and garlic are soft and translucent, another few minutes.

Add the celery root, vegetable stock, and water. Cover the pot, bring the soup to a boil, and then reduce heat to a strong simmer. Simmer until the celery root is tender. A fork should slide easily into the center of a cube when pierced. This will depend on the size of your cubes, but took me about 25 minutes.

Once celery root is tender, add the pepper and chili powder. Puree using an immersion blender (or in small batches in a regular blender—if you do this make sure to leave plenty of open space in the blender and crack the lid a bit to allow steam to escape) until the soup is smooth with no remaining chunks. Add more salt as desired.

Serve hot with a drizzle of truffle or olive oil and a side of rustic bread. Enjoy!

Adapted from David Lebovitz.