I’m currently under a million blankets watching Little Women and shopping online since I’m the worst holiday shopper in the world.

This is a bit of a quick recipe. Its main purpose is to serve as a break between the overeating of cookies and sweets that tends to happen so often at this time of year. I’ve been actually craving something salty and savory yet light and vegetarian.

The celery root is peeled and steamed along with a pear. It’s blended in the blender with the steaming water and that’s it! Top it with a bit of creme fraiche and oil that’s infused with saffron and red pepper flakes. BOOM. Lunch. Dinner. All the meals. I paired this with some bread because nothing is better than dipping bread into warm soup.

Celery Root and Pear Soup

This Celery Root and Pear Soup recipe is light and vegetarian. (Recipe Credit: Adrianna Adarme of the Fresh Tastes blog)

Ingredients

• For the Saffron Oil:
• Large pinch of crushed red pepper
• Pinch of saffron threads
• 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• For the Soup:
• 1 celery root, peeled and cubed
• 1 pear (I used a d’anjou pear), peeled and cored and roughly chopped
• 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper or white pepper
• For the Topping:
• 2 tablespoons of creme fraiche + teaspoon of water + pinch of salt, whisked until smooth

Directions

1. To make the saffron-oil: To a small bowl, combine the crushed red pepper, saffron, olive oil and allow to stand for 1 day. (If you don’t have time and you want this soup, like, right now, feel free to use just olive oil.)
2. To make the soup: I don’t have a steamer so I made a make-shift one. To do so, take a strainer/sieve and place it atop a medium saucepan that’s filled with about 3 to 4 inches of water. Turn the heat to medium and add the cubed celery root to the strainer/sieve and cover. Cook for about 15 minutes and then add the pear. Cook for an additional 10 minutes. If you have a steamer, you are fancy; feel free to use it.
3. Carefully remove the strainer—it’ll be hot! Pour the steaming water into a measuring cup. You should end up with about 1 1/2 cups. Pour about half of that water into a blender and then add the celery root and pear. Blend it up until it turns into a puree; be sure to allow steam to escape because it’ll be hot! It will be the consistency of a puree rather than a soup, add more water until it gets to the consistency that you like. I added the entire 1 1/2 cups. (Note: If you’re steaming liquid doesn’t measure out to be the entire 1 1/2 cups, feel free to use water, vegetable broth or chicken broth.)
4. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and pepper; give it a taste. If you like you can add the additional 1/2 teaspoons of salt (I did!). Divide amongst bowls and top with a drizzle of saffron oil and creme fraiche.

Yield: 2 servings

Adrianna Adarme is a food blogger and author living in Los Angeles, California. She writes the blog A Cozy Kitchen, where she shares comforting, everyday recipes from her kitchen. She recently authored her first cookbook, PANCAKES: 72 Sweet and Savory Recipes for the Perfect Stack. She’s a lover of breakfast, pie (and sometimes even pie for breakfast), corgis and cute things. You can find her on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.