Kitchen Garden Cook

Melanie Johnson’s warming celeriac soup is delicious

Serves 4

Celeriac is now the last of the root vegetables left in the kitchen garden and we should make the most of it. With its earthy celery flavour, it’s a surprisingly versatile ingredient

Ingredients Parmesan scones

150g self-raising flour 30g unsalted butter 100ml full-fat milk 75g grated Parmesan 1 beaten egg

Soup 1 chopped onion 1 crushed garlic clove 1 celeriac, peeled and cut

into chunks 1 potato, peeled and cut

into chunks 500ml hot chicken stock A splash of double cream,

plus extra to serve 2 smoked-bacon rashers,

cut into lardons 50g roughly chopped walnuts 1 sprig rosemary

Method

Preheat your oven to 220˚C/425˚f/gas mark 7. Cover a baking sheet with parchment and brush with a little oil.

Whisk the flour and a pinch of salt together in a bowl, then add the butter and rub it in with your fingertips. Pour in the milk a third at a time and mix until you have a dough, then add the Parmesan and mix well. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a couple of minutes, then roll it out to about 2cm thick. Cut the dough into rounds until you’ve used it all.

Arrange the scones on the baking sheet, brush the tops with the beaten egg and bake for 12–15 minutes or until lightly golden. Leave on a wire rack until ready to serve, with butter.

To make the soup, gently fry the onion in a saucepan with a splash of olive oil. Once it’s translucent, add the garlic, celeriac and potato and continue to fry gently. Pour in the hot chicken stock and simmer until the vegetables are tender. Once cooked, use a stick blender to purée the soup. Taste for seasoning and add a splash of cream.

Next, fry the bacon in a small pan and, once crisp, add the chopped walnuts and rosemary. Fry to release the flavours.

To serve, divide the soup between four bowls and top with a further drizzle of cream, a sprinkling of bacon, rosemary and walnuts and with the Parmesan scones on the side.