Celeriac, Fennel, and Potato Soup

Dixville Notch is getting ready to vote! I am celebrating by eating soup. Nice soothing, but delicious soup which I will use to calm my nerves for the next 24 hours. I expect the next 24 hours to be exciting, nerve-wracking, and I hope very, very much that it will ultimately bring good news. 

This is the fourth fennel soup that I've posted in the last two years, and I know I said it last time, but this is my favorite yet. I am crazy about celery root (also known as celeriac although somehow that sounds more like a condition than a vegetable) which I find a completely intriguing flavor, (there's something about it that reminds me of artichoke, without the bitterness) and leeks, fennel, and potatoes all make wonderful soup. This is delicious.

adapted from One Potato, Two Potato

Celeriac, Fennel, and Potato Soup

serves 4

1 fennel bulb
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped leeks (1 medium-large leek)
1/2 teaspoons fennel seeds, crushed
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon Pernod
1 knob celery root (about 3/4 pound), peeled and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
3/4 pound potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
6 cups chicken stock

1. Remove stalks from fennel bulb, saving a few of the fronds if you wish to use them as a garnish. Cut the fennel bulb in half and then slice in very thin slices.

2. Heat olive oil over medium high heat and saute leeks, fennel seeds, sliced fennel, and salt and pepper until the fennel is soft -- about 10 minutes

3. Add the 1 tablespoon of Pernod and continue to cook for a few minutes.

4. Add the celery root, potato, and stock. Cook until soft. Blend until smooth. Garnish with fennel fronds. (Since I posted a soup recipe not all that long ago which had both fennel and leeks and was garnished with fennel fronds, I thought I'd try something a little different on this one.)

Update: I made frizzled leeks to garnish the soup. I used a two-inch (or so) piece of leek which I sliced thinly lengthwise. I fried it in olive oil until it was lightly browned -- or at least I aimed for this although the pieces had a tendency to go from green to dark brown with out ever stopping at the golden brown I was looking for. Drain on paper towel and lightly salt.

Comments

[Kitt]

Yum! Do you have any special tricks for peeling the celeriac?

[Janet]

Oh, you are killing me with all this fennel. Yum. Love the blue and white bowl too!

[Elizabeth]

Celeriac does sound like a disease! and your garnishing is perfect! ;-)

Keep it up nablopomo!!

[pigtown*design]

beautiful!

[Lydia (The Perfect Pantry)]

Bookmarking this -- I'm so curious about the flavor of the celery root and fennel together.

[claudia (cook eat FRET)]

sounds perfect and clean. funny, we don't eat many potatoes around here. we like them ok, but i rarely make them although we had some election night...

i'd think these flavors would meld perfectly. i'm a fennel freak.

[Jessie]

Where do you even get celery root? I haven't had it since I fell in love with it in France.