Cream of Celery Soup

We have had a good supply of celery from the garden this winter, and as soup is so warming, it often appears on the lunch menu!  Here is my recipe,  made up as I went along!

CREAM OF CELERY SOUP

3 medium onions chopped coarsely

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons of oil

1 whole celery plant (mine was from my garden so I used the many outside stalks for this; centre stalks kept for eating separately). The outside stalks were a bit stringy, so we chopped them into very short pieces (6mm/quarter inch) to avoid the strings

5 medium peeled potatoes, chopped coarsely

2 bay leaves broken up with stalk removed

1 chilli chopped (optional)

chicken stock or water with a stock cube

Milk

1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

6 to 8 whole black peppercorns

10 parsley stalks with leaves. Chop the stalks and the parsley leaves separately

Cream or crème fraiche

In a large saucepan, sauté onion in butter and oil until soft. Add chopped celery, potatoes, bay leaves, chilli, parsley stalks and salt and peppercorns. Add equal amounts of stock (water & stock cube if using) and milk until the vegetables are almost covered. They will soon soften and settle under the liquid. Reduce heat and simmer vegetables gently until tender.

Put in liquidiser with the parsley leaves and liquidise until smooth. (You may have to do two lots).  I use a wand and liquidise in the saucepan.

Return the soup to pan if necessary, and heat through for 2-3 minutes until steaming hot. Season to taste.

Add a whirl of cream or crème fraiche just before serving.

This soup keeps well in the fridge for several days or it freezes well.

P.S. yesterday I added a tablespoon of herbes provence (mixed herbs) and it was even better!

Just liquidised in the saucepan, if a bit thick, add a little extra milk or cream

and the end product. Enjoy.