Ingredients
For the Soup:
700g floury boiling potatoes
50 - 75g celeriac (root celery)
250g carrots
1 onion
1 bay leaf
1 clove
40g (3 tablespoons) butter
1.5 litres (6 cups) hot vegetable stock
200g leeks
125ml cream or 150g crème fraîche
salt
freshly ground pepper
dried margoram leaves
grated nutmeg

For the Garnish
200g chanterelle mushrooms
1 onion
25g (2 tablespoons) butter
2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs, e.g. chervil, chives, parsley...


Method
To make the soup, wash the potatoes, peel and rinse. Peel the celeriac and cut out the bad parts. Peel the carrots, cut off the green leaves and tips. Wash the celeriac and carrots and leave to drain. Cut all these prepared vegetables into small cubes or dice. Peel the onion and stud it with the bay leave and clove.

Melt the butter in a pan. Add the diced celeriac and carrots and brown lightly while stirring all the while. Now add the diced potatoes, studded onion and vegetable stock. Cover, bring to the boil and cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, remove the outer leaves of the leeks, cut off the root ends and dark green leaves. Cut in half, wash throughly, leave to drain and slice. Add the sliced leeks to the soup, cover and cook for another 10 minutes.

Remove the onion, studded with the bay leaf and clove. Remove about one-third of the potato and vegetable mixture from the soup, purée, stir in the crème fraîche and pour the purée mixture back into the soup. Heat up the soup again and season with salt, pepper, marjoram and nutmeg.

For the garnish: Clean the chanterelles with a brush and remove any bad parts. If necessary, rinse the chanterelles and pat dry. Peel the onion and dice finely. Melt the butter in a pan, add the diced onion and fry in the melted butter, stirring continuously. Add the chanterelles and fry for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the onion-chanterelle mixture to the soup and simmer for about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with herbs just before serving.

Tip: If desired, small Vienna sausages may also be added to the soup during the initial frying stages. Bottled or canned chanterelles may be used instead of fresh ones.