Celery Fans Unite.
I am a big celery fan and I’m not ashamed to admit it! I think the humble celery is generally seen as a bit of an underdog, but not by me. I usually use a bunch a week: in soups, making stock, smothered in peanut butter for afternoon tea, in potato salad, fish pie, casseroles etc, etc. If I open my fridge and there’s no celery looking back at me I feel a bit edgy. So my lovely husband Dougal (who’s a celery convert now) planted some for me.
"Garden fresh ingredients" are always the best
Now as often happens in the garden, we’ve got a lot of celery ready at once. Undaunted I went in search of some celery laden recipes. Dougal’s veggie harvests generally lead to me extending my culinary skills; for instance I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s had to look for endless ways to use pumpkin when those mega plants start ripening.
Roasting veges gives them EVEN more flavour
Anyway this week I thought I’d share my very successful research with you.
Roasted Celery Soup:
10 big stalks of celery
2 medium sized leeks
4 cloves garlic
3 avg. sized potatoes
2 ltrs Chicken Stock (could use veggie stock for vegetarian option)
1/3 cup cream (could use coconut milk / cream for vegan option)
Few chilli flakes
Salt and pepper
Oil for roasting
1. Wash the veggies and toss celery, leeks and garlic in oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast for 30-40 mins until looking delicious.
2. Cube spuds and boil them up until they are tender. I always boil my spuds separately to get rid of any excess starch, but you could cook them up in your stock.
3. Heat stock if you haven’t already used it to cook the spuds. I always make my own stock, so sometimes I need to add a little seasoning to it.
4. Add the roasted veggies and the drained potatoes to your stock and blitz with a hand blender.
5. Add the cream and taste to see if you need more seasoning.
6. Serve with the chilli flakes sprinkled on top.
This was so delicious! I served it with cheese on toast for tea and got lots of positive feedback. As you can see by the photo Bax loves it too. It’s always satisfying using up the veggies from the garden and keeps me in the good graces of the gardener too ;)
I hope you enjoy it as well. xx
Carla Bokashi Boost & Celery Queen
Dougal King Celery Planter
Baxter Bokashi Boost Baby Mascot & Chief Celery Soup Taster
The "delicious" finished Roasted Celery Soup