Five root soup recipe

Hugh: "This is a simple, tasty soup which I'd encourage you to make entirely you're own. Don't feel as though you have to stick rigidly to the quantities listed here - feel free to experiment a bit, using more or less of everything, including the curry powder, depending on your personal preferences and what you have to hand."

Serves 6-8

• 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
• 20g butter
• 1 large or 2 small onions, finely chopped
• 2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 250g celeriac, peeled weight, chopped into 2cm chunks
• 250g Jerusalem artichokes, scrubbed and sliced (drop the prepped artichokes into a bowl of water into which you've squeezed a little lemon juice to stop them discolouring)
• 4 medium carrots, peeled and chopped into 2cm chunks
• 3 medium parsnips, peeled and chopped into 2cm chunks
• 1 medium-sized potato, peeled and chopped into 2cm chunks
• 1 tsp curry powder
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

How to make five root soup

1. Warm the rapeseed oil and butter over a medium-low heat in a large-ish saucepan. Add the onion, celery and garlic and sweat gently for 5 minutes.

2. Add the celeriac, Jerusalem artichokes, carrots, parsnips and potato and cook for a further 3-5 minutes.

3. Pour in enough water to cover by a couple of centimetres and a teaspoon of curry powder and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer gently, for 20-30 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

4. Ladle the cooked vegetables and liquid into a blender or food processor and purée until very smooth.

5. Pour back into the pan, thinning with a little stock or water if it seems too thick. Adjust the seasoning, adding salt and pepper to taste, and warm through. Ladle into warmed bowls and serve immediately with crusty bread.

© River Cottage