Creamy celeriac soup with homemade herbed croutons

I wouldn't say that celeriac was so popular in the Greek cuisine up to some years ago. In Greece the common type of celery comes in two forms: that, which in Greek is also referred to as “celery”, with the long thick hollow stalks and the more commonly used “small” (or wild celery), with thinner stalks and rich leaves which in Greek is known as “selino". Selino is the more popular of the two and its leaves are also used beside the stalks and it looks like this:

Going back to celeriac and our recipe, I would like to mention that it is a rather sensitive root vegetable and it should be used in the recipe right away after you clean its hard outside peel otherwise it will get bruised and black

Recipe of Michalis Dounetas,

"BHMAgourmet" magazine of "TO BHMA" newspaper

Ingredients (for 4 people)

For the soup:
220gr. of butter or margarine
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
750 ml of milk
1 Litre of crème fraîche
1 celeriac (about 500gr.), peeled and cut in small cubes
100gr. of Greek Kefalotyri cheese, grated (or parmesan)

For the croutons:
1 tsp of butter
6 stale toast bread slices, without the crust and cut in cubes
salt
pepper
1 tbsp of Greek Kefalotyri cheese, grated
various fresh herbs (like flat-leaf parsley, shepherd’s needles, chives, tarragon), all finely chopped

Method:
In a large pot melt 100gr. of the butter on medium heat and lightly sauté the onion until it becomes translucent but not browned. Pour the milk in the pot and the cream and stir.

Add the celeriac, turn the heat down to medium-low and leave the soup to simmer for about 30-35 minutes. Take off the heat and transfer the soup in a blender (you might need to do it in two batches). Whiz the ingredients until they are completely mashed and transfer back to the pot.

Season with salt and pepper, add the grated cheese, the rest of the butter and stir with a wooden spoon on low heat until the soup is well set and thickened.

For the crouton, melt the butter in a non-stick frying pan on medium heat. Season the bread cubes with salt and pepper and sauté in the butter until they become crispy and nicely golden on all sides.

Take the pan off the heat, add the grated cheese and the herbs and stir well.

Serve the croutons seperately in a bread basket or individually on top of the soup in each plate.