Celeriac and Bone Marrow Soup

Cauliflower and bone marrow soup

Another post from my favorite and only contributor, my brother. He made this for me during my visit last month and it knocked my socks off. The flavor the bone marrow gives this soup is really amazing. We grew up eating marrow spread on white bread with a few sprinkles of salt. Ryan's recipe is a much more refined way of using one of our favorite ingredients. And now, a few words from le punk...

This recipe was created this season, as the east coast farmer's markets dwindle, and late season root veg is abundant. I have also tried this idea with cauliflower rather than celeriac, and it was also quite rad. This is a relatively quick soup:


Celeriac and Bone Marrow Soup

Ingredients:
1 large bulb celeriac (or cauliflower)
1 shallot
2-3 cloves garlic
1 sprig thyme
1 bay leaf
1 good marrow bone
splash of white wine

Dice celeriac or cauliflower into 1/2 inch pieces or so. I leave these pretty rough and big, but I have a vita prep 3 which could blend rocks into soup, so I don't really stress the size too much. If you have a stick blender, or other less powerful blender, you may want to dice everything slightly smaller and more uniformly to ensure an even puree.

Dice the shallot and smash the garlic cloves as well. In a little grape seed oil in a medium saucepan, saute the shallot for about two minutes, than add the smashed garlic and saute another minute or so. You want to start to get translucence from the shallot, and cook out the raw garlic smell, not browning either of them.

Next, add the root veg and saute another few minutes to begin cooking them all together. Season w/ salt and pepper. After 4-5 minutes, deglaze with a splash of white wine and reduce by half. Then cover all the ingredients with cold water and bring to a simmer. Drop in the marrow bone and the thyme and bay leaf at this point and cook uncovered to slowly reduce and develop the flavors. You want to make sure you have enough water covering the veg and bone (about 1/4 inch) to ensure enough liquid to reduce for about a half hour at a slow simmer without having to add more water later and diluting the soup. It's better to have more water than less, because you can always reduce the soup after pureeing it to the consistency you like.

After about a half hour, Remove the bone and the herbs from the pot, and scoop the marrow into the soup using a knife or small spoon.

Next puree the soup using your blender of choice, add back to the pot, season with salt and pepper and reduce to the thickness you like. And as always, enjoy!