Celeriac and fennel soup with celeriac and wild garlic fritters

Amazing recipe by Irini Tzortzoglou! The wild garlic is a great addition to many dishes like soups and salads, and it is no exception here.  Gather much (cutting it not uprooting it) and use to make pesto and oil to freeze for the rest of the year.  

You may substitute wild garlic with another herb oil or spinach, rocket or watercress. 

A squeeze of lemon when serving or just before accentuates all the other flavours to the fore so I often add it to soups.  

Ingredients (serves 4)

For the soup

• 1 large celeriac root, peeled and thinly sliced on a mandolin
• 2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 fennel root, thinly sliced on a mandolin
• 1 medium sized potato, thinly sliced on a mandolin
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 banana shallot, thinly sliced
• 1 Ltr vegan stock
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp ground coriander
• 250ml almond milk

For the fritters

• A piece of peeled celeriac, approx. 250g grated
• 1 small shallot, finely chopped
• A small bunch of wild garlic leaves, shredded (may substitute with spinach)
• 3 tbsp almond or chickpea flour
• 4 tbsp chickpea water
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp ground coriander
• 100ml extra virgin olive oil for frying

For the wild garlic oil

• A big bunch of garlic, approx. 200g
• 300ml sunflower oil
• A pinch of salt

To serve

• Wild garlic oil
• 20g almond flakes, toasted
• A few fennel seeds, toasted
• A squeeze of lemon juice

Method

Start by making the wild garlic oil if using. Wash a bunch of wild garlic and blanch in boiling water for 30 seconds. Drain and pat dry with a clean towel. Chop roughly with a knife and drop in a powerful blender. Add the oil and a pinch of salt and blitz until you see a vividly green loose puree. Transfer the wild garlic/oil mix into a clean muslin cloth over a colander and strain over a couple of hours. At the end of the 2 hours, squeeze to extract any more oil that is there and use a second piece of muslin to strain again. Keep in squeezy bottles to use or put in little tubs and freeze. Defrost thoroughly before using.

To make the soup, bring a large pan to a medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the chopped shallot and sweat for 3-4 minutes before adding the fennel seeds and ground spices. Give them a couple of turns with a large spoon and add the sliced fennel, potato and celeriac, holding back 250g to make the fritters with. Cook for a few minutes, stirring all the time and finely add the stock. Bring to the boil, lower the heat, cover the pan and cook slowly until all the vegetables are cooked and soft and the liquid reduced, approx. 35-40 minutes.

Leave to cool a little and transfer to a blender to blitz. Return to a clean pan and add the almond milk. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and bring to the boil once again before serving.

For the fritters, preheat the oven to 200 0C.

Put all the ingredients, apart from the oil, in a bowl and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix well. Heat a large frying pan with the oil. Take some celeriac mix in your hands and shape to a loose patty. Fry the fritters a couple of minutes on each side until golden. Transfer onto a lined baking sheet and bake in the oven for 10 minutes to finish cooking.