Blend & snap celery soup
Servings: 4
If you’re wondering where the ‘snap’ element of this soup comes in, it’s well before any ‘blending’ takes place, where fresh celery is snapped of its heart and leaves for use as garnish. These bits often fall by the wayside as celery juicers and dippers work their way into the inner ribs, often leaving these to wilt before they can really shine. Here, the hearts take centre stage where they belong. I heart this soup like Elle Woods loves Bruiser. And if that movie reference went over your head, then you’re probably still shaking your head at the name of the recipe and hoping this obscure introduction ends soon.
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Ingredients
- 1 bunch celery
- 1 leek chopped
- 1 L (4 cups) chicken or vegetable stock
- ½ bunch marjoram leaves picked (sub with oregano)
- ½ tsp celery seed or celery salt, if you have it
- 1 tsp ground white pepper
- 1 cup (250ml) pure cream
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tbsp pine nuts toasted
- 2 tbsp chopped dried cranberries
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
Instructions
- Remove the heart and young leaves from the celery and reserve.
- Place remaining celery in a blender along with leek, stock, marjoram/oregano, celery seed/salt and white pepper and whiz until finely chopped and smoothed to your like. I prefer to leave some chunky bits for texture – but happy for your to even pass it through a sieve, if you’re that way inclined.
- Transfer to a saucepan along with cream and bay leaves and place over medium heat. Bring to a simmer then cover and cook over low heat for 25 minutes or until smooth and the celery fibres have softened in texture. Season to taste.
- Finely chop the celery heart and combine in a bowl with leaves, pine nuts, cranberries, and vinegar. Spoon over celery-nut-fruit mixture. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil.
Notes
Top tips:
For burn-free pine nuts, heat a pan for 5-10 minutes on medium. Turn this off and add the pine nuts, giving them the odd toss to colour through.
Double Duty:
Use dinner rolls as bowls and turn this soup into mini cobs! Preheat the oven to 180℃, cut the tops off the rolls and use your fingers to hull and remove the insides. Place both rolls and inners in the oven and toast for 10 minutes. Divide the hot soup between rolls, add the inners to the soup as croutons and garnish as directed.
Recipe from In Praise of Veg, Murdoch Books RRP $65
