Foodie Friday - Super Simple Celery Soup

I'm going to be straight up with you guys, I know that celery is one of those things like coriander and, Marmite, that you either love or hate, so for some of you this recipe will be a total non starter. I think celery is fabulous, and I add it to loads of things curries, spaghetti bolognese, and salad, and we always have some in the fridge for healthy snacking. It has a really distinctive savoury flavour, that makes such an impact even if you just use a tiny bit. This recipe isn't about using a tiny bit though this recipe is for celery lovers only. The flavour of the celery isn't as intense as what you'd think though as it mellows with cooking, leaving a lovely warming, savoury soup.

Super Simple Celery Soup

A Drizzle Of Olive Oil

A Couple Of Cloves Of Garlic - Roughly Chopped 

1 Onion 

One Head Of Celery 

About 1 Litre Of Vegetable Stock 

A Dash Of Milk Or Cream (Optional)

Salt and Pepper To Taste

1. Into a large pan add a large drizzle of olive oil

Add your garlic and turn the ring onto a medium heat.

2. Roughly chop your onion - I'm using a red one here but a white one would be fine too .

Add it to your pan

3. Right celery time, cut of the base of the root and any brown bits.

Pop the celery root, stalks and leaves into a large colander and rinse. You can get a lot of sandy bits and soil in them so you need to make sure you wash them thoroughly 

4. Then roughly chop the celery, leaves and all

and add to your pan, and cook the onions, garlic and celery over a medium heat 

5.In the meantime make up your vegetable stock.

6. After about 15 minutes or so your onions and garlic should be softened, your celery will still be a little hard but don't worry.

Add your vegetable stock to the pan and simmer for another 20 minutes or so till all the vegetables are soft

7. Then it's time to blend as per usual I'm using my free standing blender. Because the celery can be a bit stringy you really want to give it a good blend to leave a nice consistency

8. Return the soup to the pan, swirling out your blender with a dash of milk or single cream or water (I used skimmed milk here). If your not using a free standing blender at the point you could add a little cream or milk at this point to add a bit of richness but it's not essential. Check the seasoning, adding salt and pepper as needed and warm back through for another 5-10 minutes.

9. Serve :) with some crusty bread or with some crusty bread rolls like Mummy Lou or in my case gluten free white sliced :) The recipe makes around 4 large bowls.

Like all my recipes this is so, so easy to make. Soup is one of those fabulous things that you can just add what you like and what you have. The timings are just a guide line really you could easily leave this to bubble along for half an hour or more. It also freezes really well, so it often worth picking up fresh vegetables when they're are reduced and making up some soup for the freezer - me and Mummy Lou always check out the reduced sections in the supermarket and it's well worth doing, especially for batch cooking. Are you a celery fan? let me know in the comments x