Celery root soup with bacon fat and croutons

Preparation -- 15 minutes

PEEL the celery root, rinse it well and chop into coarse pieces. PEEL the onion and garlic cloves and roughly chop the onion and 1 garlic clove. CHOP the other 2 garlic cloves into halves and set aside.

Roughly CHOP the bacon and cook it on high heat. We're going to sauté the onion, garlic and celery root in the fat and also use some for on top on the soup later on.

This will give the soup an extra delicious hearty flavour. ADD the 2 halved garlic cloves to the fat so it will be a garlic-y bacon fat. REMOVE the bacon and garlic, so we'll end up with just the tasteful fat. 

Finishing the celery root soup with bacon fat and croutons -- 20 minutes

SET a part of the fat aside for later and HEAT a bit of the fat in the medium-sized pan. SAUTE the onion and 1 garlic cloves and after a few minutes, also ADD the celery root.

Again after a few minutes, also ADD the cloves and bay leaves. POUR in the chicken stock and bring to a boil. COOK the soup for about 10 minutes and then REMOVE the cloves and bay leaves. 

Meanwhile CREATE the croutons. REMOVE the crust of the bread slices and chop the bread into cubes. SET a part of the bacon fat aside and HEAT the rest of it in the medium-sized skillet.

COOK the bread cubes for a few minutes in the skillet, until they're golden brown and crispy. BLEND the soup as soon as the celery root has softened enough, the exact cooking time depends on the size of the chunks.

Bring the soup back to a boil. ADD the cream and SEASON with pepper and maybe some salt. The salt is optional, cause the bacon fat is already quite salty.

SERVE with extra bacon fat, croutons and parsley for extra garnish. Enjoy!