Soup! The saviour of the day, if you are feeling down and if you need something to comfort you. It turns a horrible day into a cosy, calm and peaceful one.

Last weekend was a terrible one. I could not sleep, I could not properly eat, I constantly cried. It was because of a mixture of emotions, but mostly, I had some shocking news.

 

So when I could not sleep for about 48 hours and felt utterly depressed, I decided to make soup to comfort myself and maybe, just maybe, forget about the broken heart. I was planning to cook this apple and celeriac soup by Jamie Oliver for a while, and I thought “now is the time”.

 

 

 

It was a miracle soup. A perfect combination of celery stalk, celeriac and apples. A balanced taste of “healthy, nutritious and fresh”. It looks and feels heavy at first, but it just fills you with comfort in fact. And the sage leaves used for serving? Oh my, I never knew that sage smelled so good and fresh and that it felt so soft. I will be using it all the time from now on!! or I will at least keep a bunch at home to smell..

 

Could I sleep afterwards? To be honest, no. But I just felt calm while eating the soup and frankly, I calmed down even as I was cooking it. Today I feel quite ok. Tomorrow and in the future I will feel even better.
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Ingredients:

 

(serves 6)
4 tbsp / 60 ml olive oil (you can divide this in two)
2 onions, sliced
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 celeriac, chopped
4 apples, peeled, cored and chopped
1/2 tbsp / 2.5 ml dried thyme
1 lt vegetable broth (or chicken, if you like)
Salt and pepper to taste
200 ml crème fraîche (divided into 2 — half of it will be used for serving)

 

To serve:
Roasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
Sage leaves
Crème fraîche, as explained above

 

 

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1. Put 2 tbsp / 30 ml olive oil in a pan and warm it for a minute on medium heat.

 

2. Add onions and chopped celery stalk and cook them on medium heat until they are tender, for about 10 minutes. Stir it a few times in between.

 

 

 

3. Add celeriac, apples, dried thyme, vegetable broth, salt and pepper and cook for about 30-40 minutes, until celeriac is cooked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Using a hand blender or a food processor, make a smooth soup. Stir in half of 200 ml crème fraîche. Let the soup cool down for a few minutes, while preparing it to serve.

 

 

5. Put the rest of the olive oil (from step 1) in a pan and heat it a little on medium heat. Put sage leaves on the pan until they are crisp — be careful, they get crispy really fast!!! Chop some roasted hazelnuts roughly. Spoon the soup into bowls, add a dollop of crème fraîche on each one, with hazelnuts and sage leaves. You can also drizzle a little olive oil. Now sit on your couch, put a nice record and try to forget the bad things while eating your soup! Bon ap!