A very creamy delicious classic English soup, which calls for Blue Stilton – you can replace it with high-quality blue cheese from any country. The other great thing about this soup is that you can have it on the table in an hour – if two are peeling even quicker. Serve with crusty bread to dip.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound / 450 grams of celeriac root
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4 fresh sage leaves, washed and roughly chopped
• 6 cups / 1.5 liters of vegetable broth
• 6 pears, ripe but not too soft
• 6 ounces / 175 grams of high-quality blue cheese, crumbled
• 1 TBSP butter for frying
• Salt & fresh ground pepper
• Sherry or Port for serving (optional)

Putting it all together:

• Peel the celeriac root completely and generously and chop into small pieces.
• Heat the butter in a soup pot and stir-fry the chopped onion until soft and fragrant about 3 – 5 minutes.
• Add the chopped celeriac and stir another 3 minutes.
• Add the broth and the chopped sage leafs, a pinch of salt and 4 grinds of fresh pepper. Cover, lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
• In the meantime, wash, peel, core and cut the pears into smaller pieces.
• Add the pears at the end of the cooking time and simmer together with the top on for another 5 minutes.
• Remove the soup from the heat and add the crumbled blue cheese reserving 1 TBSP for decorating. Purée the soup carefully so as not to burn yourself.
• Taste and adjust the salt and pepper, watch out because the blue cheese is quite salty.
• Serve the soup with a sprinkling of blue cheese on top. You may also serve Sherry or Port so that those who would like can add a spoonful to the soup.
• This soup tastes even better the next day – do not boil it when reheating so as not to curdle the cheese.