Leek and Celeriac Soup has a wonderful, almost sweet, flavour . . . and is another great winter comfort food.

You can't beat good home-made soup and they are not much easier than this. When making this sort of soup quantities do not have to be exact and ingredients can be changed to suit your own personal taste.

When buying the ingredients I had in mind to make a ham stock but could not get a ham hock nor any ham bones but not a problem. Good quality stock cubes (such as Knorr) work just as well

Ingredients

6 or 7 medium leeks, chopped into one inch segments
1/2 Celeriac
4/5 Garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 Chicken stock cubes
2 Vegetable stock cubes
Bunch of fresh Parsley
Freshly ground Black pepper
Water

Method

• Leeks

  Celeriac

  Clean, peel and chop the leeks into roughly one inch pieces and palce in pan.
  
  
• Peel your half of Celeriac and cut into cubes. Add to the pan.
  
  
• Peel and roughly chop your garlic cloves. (You can use more or less according to your tastes.) Add to the pan.
  
  
• Add water to the pan so the level is about one inch from the top of your pan. Bring to the boil and then leave to simmer for an hour or so.
  
  
• Taste the soup to see how salty it is. At this stage you add two chicken stock cubes and one vegetable stock cube ( I prefer Knorr stock cubes). I use the stock cubes both to enhance the flavour but also to season the soup as stock cubes are quite salty which is why you should add and then taste after they have dissolved. After tasting add the second vegetable stock cube if required.
  
  
• Finely chop your Parsley (plenty of it) and add to pan. Add a generous few twists of freshly ground black pepper. Continue to simmer for a further two or three minutes and then remove from the heat.
  
  
• To finish the soup liquidise it either in a liquidiser (will need to do in batches) or with a hand-held liquidiser so that a smooth consistency is achieved. (This soup will be quite thick so if you prefer it to be slightly thinner remove half of the leeks before liquidising. Drain them over a bowl so as not to lose any of your liquid.)
  
  
• Serve immediately or leave to cool and store in the fridge and reheat as required. If not using all at once only reheat the amount you need each time and not the whole pan of soup.

Serves 8

Making anything like this does not require you to use precise amounts so do not worry too much about weighing or the size of the ingredients. If your Celeriac is big half will do but if small then use the whole thing. The Celeriac, as well as adding flavour, helps to thicken the soup when you liquidise it.

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