Celeriac soup with scallops and bacon

Serves 4

Celeriac has such a great flavour but often just gets left on the greengrocer's shelves.

1 medium onion, peeled and roughly chopped
A couple of good knobs of butter
A head of celeriac weighing about 400-500g, peeled and roughly chopped
1 litre vegetable or fish stock
4 large scallops, shucked and cleaned
100-120g piece of smoked streaky bacon, rind removed and cut into 1cm cubes
A little vegetable oil for frying

Gently cook the onion in the butter for 2-3 minutes until soft. Add the celeriac and stock, season, bring to the boil and simmer for 25 minutes. Blend in a liquidiser until smooth; strain through a sieve if necessary into a clean saucepan and re-season to taste.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the bacon on a medium heat for 4-5 minutes, stirring every so often until nicely coloured, then remove with a slotted spoon and keep warm.

Season and add the scallops to the same pan and cook on a high heat for a minute or so on each side, keeping them slightly undercooked in the middle.

To serve pour about 2-3 cm of the soup into warm soup plates, place the scallop in the centre and scatter the bacon over.