A Soup for Chaotic Winter Days

A nourishing bowl of comfort from celeriac + apples w/blue cheese + walnuts.

It’s either Park Life, Safe Play or Darlington… Definitely not Cat’s Cradle. This week I’ve been stuck in the galvanic world of the paint colour chart. The goal was to give our bathroom a little spruce ahead of winter. What’s happened is a thousand peel-and-stick samples now forming a patchwork mural on our wall, in front of which we stand daily, earnestly staring in the hope of some interior design epiphany.

The colour has still not been decided. Although, I can confirm, that the luxurious rich soup we’ve been feasting this week is either Mindful or Pampas.

Because of our DIY desire, I thought a big vat of soup would be a sensible creation. Cook it at the start of the week, and we can decant it as a quick and easy lunch whilst the boat disintegrates into chaos around us. Doing anything inside a small space is a constant game of furniture Tetris, and with a one-year-old, it really is an interesting dynamic.

Not only did we decide that this would be a good week to paint, but also a tremendous time to sort out the storage unit that’s been burning a hole in our pocket for the past few years. (Please don’t judge us for this, we have been meaning to get rid of it for so long but struggle with the anxiety of throwing anything ‘useful’ away. For example, we’ve been driving around with an ironing board in the boot for the past few days - charity shops don’t want it, and no one’s interested on Freecycle or Marketplace… But, it looks almost brand new and we can’t bring ourselves to take it to the tip. What to do?!)

This soup has been a constant comfort during the general upheaval. It has a wonderful velvety texture and creates that warming, fuzzy, reassuring feeling that a good soup does. It’s also a real pleasure to cook entirely from the season, with gnarly old celeriac taking up centre stage and apples and leeks playing key supporting roles. It’s decadently humble, the perfect sanctuary from post-paint-penitance.

Recipe