Jason Bangerter is a very skilled chef – intelligent, friendly and passionate about food. He’s the Executive Chef at Auberge Du Pommier, delivering a consistently amazing French food at one of the nicest restaurants in Toronto. I had the pleasure of trying the Winterlicious tasting menu at Auberge Du Pommier and take a tour of Jason’s beautiful state of the art kitchen. Believe me, it was one of the most memorable experiences of mine in Toronto.
Among many dishes at Auberge Du Pommier that everyone loves is Jason’s Truffle Soup. The creation of that signature dish goes back to Jason’s days in Europe working with Anton Mosimann, the first Celebrity Chef of our time who came up with Cuisine Naturelle and whose philosophy is that you don’t need a lot of butter, cream and alcohol to get Michelin Stars. Instead, Mosimann focuses the freshest ingredients and cooking methods to bring out natural flavours and keep his customers healthy. Chef Bangerter has definitely taken Mosimann’s philosophy in his cooking. The Winterlicious menu appetizers like the St Jacques Marinee (fresh Scallops with valentine radish, apple and lemon) and the Celery Root soup draws attention to the fresh ingredients, simple cooking methods and delicious tastes. This is one of many posts to come about Chef Jason Bangerter, YouCook’s favourite Toronto Chef.
Cat has taken the first stab at following Chef Bangerter’s recipe for the Celery Root Soup. Please read on for her experience.
I have become a recent fan of vegetable pureed soups, being both tasty and healthy – it usually consists of vegetable and chicken stock. So when Thu showed me the recipe for Celery Root Soup from Auberge du Pommier by Chef Jason Bangerter, I volunteered to try it. I was especially eager after she raved about how delicious it was when she had it at the restaurant! It was a little intimidating to make it at first, since I had never cooked with leeks nor celery root, but I managed to find fresh versions of both at St Lawrence Market. The result was delicious, despite the few mistakes I made. Read on for the recipe and my experience on making it.
Summary
Preparation Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 1 hour
Servings: 8 servings.
Meal type: Soup
Grocery Cost: $ 9.67 ($1.21 per serving)
Recipe Rating: 
Ingredients
- 3 French shallots, peeled and sliced ~ $2.00
- 1 leek (whites only) split, washed and sliced ~ $1.00
- 3 pc garlic, peeled and crushed
- ½ lb. Celery root, peeled and diced ~ $1.99
- 2 fresh bay leaves or 1 dry
- 6 sprigs fresh thyme ~ $0.20
- 4 sprigs fresh parsley ~ $0.20
- 2 lt. chicken stock, beef stock, vegetable stock or water
- ½ lb. butter (unsalted) ~ $1.00
- ½ lt. 35% cream (whipped) ~ $2.49
- ½ cup white wine ~ $0.80
Cut celery root:
Instructions
1. In a stock pot on low heat, sweat the shallots, garlic and leek until tender.
Sweating vegetables means to cook them over very low heat, usually with a bit of butter or oil. This is commonly done in vegetable soups to soften the vegetables and for them absorb the fat without burning. See this link for more information on sweating.
2. Add the celery root.
3. Add the white wine and the herb bundle.
4. Reduce the wine until almost all is evaporated and add the stock just to cover the ingredients in the pot.
5. Simmer until all the contents are tender and the liquid is well flavoured. Pull off the heat and allow cooling slightly before the next step.
6. Remove the herb bundle and squeeze any juices into the pot.
7. Purée the soup while warm and add the diced butter pieces, a few at a time to emulsify. Pass through a fine sieve. Adjust consistency with left over liquid and season.
Chef’s tip:
Only add enough butter to achieve a velvet texture. It is not necessary to use the entire amount of butter.
8. To serve, heat the soup and fold in the whipped cream at the last minute. Only fold enough to create a frothy velvet consistency. Ladle into warm soup bowls.
9. Garnish with either black pepper, sour cream, smoked salmon, caviar or smoked, confit and braised meats or just enjoy with a piece of crusty bread.
Quick Notes
I had a few hiccups while making this soup. First of all, passing it through a sieve didn’t really work for me. I put all the soup in the sieve, and only little drips of liquid went through. Maybe my sieve was TOO fine? Anyways, I just ended up skipping this part – otherwise I would’ve had about 3 tablespoons of soup.
The second thing that went awry was taking the ingredients too literally, especially the butter. The half pound of butter did seem like a lot, especially since the soup already had good flavour, but I didn’t want to take any chances so I put it all in. After talking to the chef, I realized that the measurements are only a guide, and I should’ve only put in enough butter to reach a velvet-y consistency! Chef Jason Bangerter also said you could use a drizzle of olive oil instead of butter
The last thing was I didn’t whip the cream before folding it in the soup. So instead of the velvety texture, I just had a slightly creamy texture.
Variations
When the dish was presented at Auberge Du Pommier, there was some truffle on top. The truffle really enhances the soup with its delicious flavours – and I suppose it would increase the cost of the soup.
You can feel free to add a different garnish while serving the dish.
Results
Despite my many mistakes, the soup actually turned out quite tasty. The first few mouthfuls were pronounced “delicious” by my boyfriend. However, since I added way too much butter, it was hard to eat too much of it. It is a good recipe and I would make it again, with Chef Bangerter’s suggestion of using a drizzle of olive oil instead. Thanks to Auberge du Pommier for providing a great soup recipe, and introducing me to using leeks and celery root soup!
