Cream of Celery 2.0
Cream of celery is an iconic celery recipe for a good reason–it’s a delicious, often unusual way to have your daily dose of celery and use up any leftover celery in your pantry. Classic recipes are classics for a reason after all. Here’s ours. For a vegan version, substitute the chicken stock with vegetable stock and the cream/milk with cashew cream, or mix it up with coconut milk and coconut cream.
This soup has been kicking around for a while, since at least the 19th Century. Here’s an excerpt from 19th Century Thanksgiving Feast Menu and Recipes, Old Fashioned Holidays (1889):
“After reserving the finest celery for the table, select the coarser white blades from that which remains, rejecting the green portions. Boil them till very tender – from an hour to an hour and a half. Rub through a coarse sieve or colander. For every pint of this pulp, have ready three pints of veal stock or chicken broth, boiling hot. Add the celery pulp, with two level “teaspoonfuls of salt, one scant fourth teaspoonful of pepper, and a tablespoonful of flour rubbed into two tablespoonfuls of butter. Let it boil up, add one pint of sweet cream or milk, and when it again reaches the boiling point, remove from the fire without allowing it to boil. This soup may be prepared the day before, leaving out the cream. which should be added after soup is reheated.”
Our Cream of celery recipe isn’t quite as much work, but we think it’d be a great addition to your family dinner repertoire. It’s good for a winter day or for a yummy dinner in general. Don’t believe us? Give it a shot!
Serves 4x Hungry People as the First Course
15 minPrep Time
45 minCook Time
1 hrTotal Time
Ingredients
- ½ Celery
- 1 fennel sliced (fronds reserved)
- 1 onion diced
- 3 large garlic cloves
- 2 large Potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1 ltr of thickened cream
- 1 ltr of Milk
- 1 ltr of chicken stock (or water)
- Pinch Salt and pepper
- 60ml Lemon juice
- 100ml Olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
- Toss celery, fennel, and garlic in some olive oil on a baking sheet in a roasting tray.
- Roast in the oven until golden, 15-20 mins depending on your oven and the dice size. Don't burn it!
- Sauté onion in a heavy bottomed pot until translucent, over medium heat.
- Add potatoes and roast veggies into the pot, toss for a minute or so.
- Pour in cream, milk, and stock. Bring to the boil, then simmer until the potatoes are soft and fork-tender.
- Drain out solids into a food processor (reserve the stock!) and blend until smooth. Add soup to the blended solids and blend again until desired consistency.
- Season and add lemon juice. Garnish with fennel fronds.