DOUBLE CELERY AND APPLE SOUP

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 stalks celery, with leaves
• sliced 2 large yellow onions, peeled, trimmed and coarsely chopped
• 2 sweet apples, peeled, cored and cubed
• 1 pound celery root, peeled, trimmed and cubed
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 sprig thyme
• 6 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• Heavy cream or sour cream, for serving (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven or soup pot over low heat.
2. Toss in the sliced celery, onions and apples, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft.
3. Add the cubed celery root and turn it around in the butter.
4. Toss the herbs into the pot, add the broth and bring to the boil.
5. Lower the heat and cook at a gentle simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the celery root is soft enough to mash with the back of a spoon.
6. If you can, pull out the bay leaf and what’s left of the thyme.
7. Working in small batches in a blender (first choice) or food processor, puree the soup until it’s smooth. (If you’re using a processor or an immersion blender,
   you might not get a super-smooth soup. If you’d like, you can run the pureed soup through a strainer, but it’s really not necessary.)
8. Taste for salt and pepper
9. This needs to be served very hot (especially on a snowy day) and, while it really doesn’t need an embellishment, like just about everything else in the world,
   it’s better with cream, so either stir some into the pot or put a spoonful in the center of each bowl and let everyone swirl it into the soup.

Recipe courtesy Recipes Wiki.