Chickpea, Celeriac & Arugula Soup
This past weekend I had a Soup-a-thon, a day that I spend making several soups to freeze and enjoy as the weather gets cooler. With my love of cooking all sorts of meals there is nothing I enjoy more than making soups. And when I come up with a recipe that works – the first time – it’s extra special. That’s what happened at this weekend’s Soup-a-thon.
At the Farmers’ Market I had bought a couple of small celeriac (also known as celery root or knob celery). This warty-looking vegetable has been around for a long time and was even mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey (as “selinon”). I didn’t have any particular recipe planned for the celeriac but bought them because they were in season and I love the way they taste despite their odd-looking shape.
Celeriac has a light herbal celery flavor and can be roasted, boiled and mashed like a potato or added to stews. I decided to incorporate the celeriac into my Soup-a-thon as Chickpea, Celeriac, Arugula Soup – my newest invention. The chickpeas added a hearty nutlike flavor to the soup balanced against the herbaceous flavor of celeriac and the peppery bite of baby arugula. Purée it all together and you’ve got a substantial, savory meal. If you want to make the serving extra fancy, top it with a drizzle of basil oil, some minced chives, and toasted pepitas or sunflower seeds.
CHICKPEA, CELERIAC & ARUGULA SOUP
Ingredients:
2 small or 1 large celeriac
Lemon wedge
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups vegetable or chicken stock, divided
47 ounces of cooked (ready-to-eat) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
½ teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
6 ounces baby arugula
Salt & pepper, to taste
Peel the celeriac and cut them into ½ inch cubes. Place the cubes a bowl and cover them with water and a squeeze of fresh lemon. This will stop them from turning brown until ready to use.
In a medium soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Sauté the onion until it’s translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and continue sautéing for another minute. Reduce the heat to low.
Drain the celeriac and add them to the soup pot along with 2 cups of the stock. Simmer the celeriac for about 20 minutes until soft.
Add the chickpeas, the additional 4 cups of broth and the rosemary and ginger; simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Add the baby arugula and continue simmering about another minute until the arugula wilts.
Remove the soup pot from the heat and use an immersion blender to purée the soup until smooth. Season with a little salt and pepper.
Note: Although this is not a mandatory step, I remove the skins from the canned chickpeas before adding them to the soup. This step is easy and will take a while but will ensure a creamier, smoother soup. I use this same method when I make hummus, a trick I learned from a Syrian friend.