Celery Soup

I don't know about you, but I'm not a huge fan of celery. Raw it supposedly has 'negative calories' taking more calories to consume than it provides, unfortunately it is also tough, fibrous and relatively taste free. When cooked, it often just filler, providing nothing more than bulk to dishes that work quite happily without it. This is one of the few dishes which concentrates the flavour of the celery and allows it stand alone.

To Serve 4 generously.

Soup

Hearty splash of olive oil

4 Garlic Cloves, crushed

2 Red Onions , roughly chopped
600g Celery (approx. 2 heads), roughly chopped
750ml Hot Chicken Stock

Ground Salt & Pepper

In a large saucepan or stockpot, heat the oil over a low heat, add the garlic, onion & celery, then cook for about five minutes, until the celery softens, stirring to prevent it colouring. Add the chicken stock, bring to the boil and allow to simmer for 10-12 minutes. Use a wand or transfer the soup to a blender and liquidise. Return the soup the pot, bring back to the boil and season to your taste. At this point your soup is ready to eat, but if you want something a little more refined and more visually appealing, you can do the following;

Finish

4 tbsp of Sour Cream

4 tbsp Walnuts, quartered

Lightly fry the walnuts in butter (until they are just going brown), pour the soup into a bowl, top with walnuts & drizzle with sour cream.

Thanks to the Grow Wild Organic Box Scheme for repeatedly forcing me to come up with something to do with celery and to my wife for putting up with my numerous poor attempts to do something interesting with it.