Eat Write Love
NICKY TORODE & SONJA COLMAN of Creative Concoctions – a social enterprise, boosting creative health
It’s not going to win the veggie beauty contest, but it definitely wins hearts in a nutritional way. The humble, the knobbly, the tasty showstopper – the celeriac! Show some love for the ingredient that will transform your soups this autumn.
Journaling #1:
- Don’t Judge a Root by Its Cover!
- List all the food – other fruits, veggies or dishes – that at first you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up enjoying. See if you can get to 10!
Fun Facts about celeriac
- It’s the root of the more commonly known celery and is a very low GI root vegetable – that means it has less sugar in than other root vegetables and so is better for balancing out blood sugar levels and maintaining energy.
- It’s the descendant of the wild cherry.
- It originated in the Mediterranean and is mentioned in both the Iliad and The Odyssey as Selinon.
Nutrition info:
- Full of compounds which support the prevention of cancer and help to lower blood pressure.
- Potassium – Supports heart health and muscles
- Sodium – good for provision of electrolytes after exercise
- Fibre – good for digestion and gut health
Celeriac, Chickpea and Lemon Soup (Serves 4)
Celeriac has a delicious nutty flavour which goes really well with the freshness of lemon and herbs. They are a reasonably priced ingredient too, costing around £1.50 for a root and can be used raw in salads, roasted as a substitute for potatoes or, as below, turned into a delicious autumn soup.
Ingredients:
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
- Salt
- ½ celeriac
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 200ml vegetable stock
- 200g chickpeas
- Large handful fresh parsley
Method:
- Gently warm 2 tbsp oil in a saucepan and add the bay leaf and diced onion – put the lid on the pan and gently cook the onions without browning for 2-3 minutes.
- Add half the lemon zest and a little salt and continue gently cooking with the lid on for a further 5 minutes.
- Whilst the onions are cooking, peel and dice the celeriac into 1cm cubes.
- Remove lid and add the celeriac – cook for a further 5 minutes before adding the garlic and vegetable stock.
- Bring to the boil, cover and cook for around 20 minutes. Then add the chickpeas and some additional water if needed.
- Now, using the parsley, the remaining lemon zest, a little salt and 1 tbsp olive oil, make a gremolata (this is basically a chopped herb paste). Pile up the parsley and drizzle the oil, salt and zest on top, then using a chopping knife, chop the pile up until it forms a rough paste. Put it to one side.
- Stir remaining lemon juice into the pan & cook for just 2 minutes.
- Turn off heat from under the pan and stir in most of the gremolata – leave some aside for serving. Then cover the pan and leave the flavours to blend in.
- When you are ready to serve, drizzle some of the extra gremolata on top.
Substitutes
- Celeriac gives a unique flavour, but parsnips work just as well, or a combination of the two would be fine.
- Using bottled lemon juice would also work well; you lose a little bit of flavour without the zest. but adding in an extra splash of juice will boost it up.
Storage
This soup is fine to keep in the fridge for 2-3 days, but it also freezes brilliantly.
JOURNALING #2
Pot Luck [7 mins]
- Write about a time when you didn’t follow a recipe, just had a look in your cupboard and concocted something.
- How did it turn out? How did you feel at having made something your way?
JOURNALING #3
Zhuzh Your Shop!
- Next time you’re wandering up the veg aisle, pick up a cousin of the celeriac to turn into soup, something you don’t normally use … turnip? beet? swede? And pair it with a different kind of bread – pitta, cheese scone, pumpernickel?
- Start a commitment: Try ‘Something New Tuesdays’!
- Reflect in your journal what you notice about your new habits.
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