Thick Celeriac Soup With Gruyere Recipe

The first thing that hits me about celeriac is the smell. It's like the forest floor and a cabbage patch and a grassy field all at once. It is so intensely vegetal. And let's face it: few vegetables can tread the line between root vegetable and garden vegetable with such success. It has the bulk and heartiness of a potato but the lightness and brightness of a very mild celery. It's gorgeous.