Something about “soup & scones” makes me feel that winter is decidedly here to stay. Well, it’s here for a while at least & we might as well make a day of it. I have to say it’s one of my favorite cooking seasons of all.
Somehow Cream of Celery became one of my family’s favorite soups. It started when my Canadian brother in law declared that his mom makes the best Cream of Celery. (I shall not contest) So I wanted to give it a try. I was sadly the only one in my family who liked celery before this. So I dug around & found a recipe or two, tweeked it & of course, forgot the recipe all together, but just ended up making it how I like it. So if you don’t like my recipe…..tweek it, forget I ever said anything & enjoy your own private soup!
This estimation made a generous amount for 12 ppl
So…Off we go! First off grab:
a hunk of celery (normally expensive in Japan but husband found a great place where it’s cheap)
A few cloves of garlic (adjust according to your audience)
An onion (mine was smaller than I’d like)
3 bay leaves
3 bullion cubes
Salt & pepper
Butter (or margarine, if you must) a few tbsps. I used between 4-5, I think
Chop the celery & onion coarsely, (we’re gonna blend it later anyway) leaves or no leaves from the celery. (I personally like some of the leaves in there as it add the greenness. Smash & peel the garlic. (believe it or not there are some people who don’t know that trick)
Melt the butter & saute the onion, garlic, celery & bay leaves on med-low for about 10 min. Next, shoo away everyone who comes to the kitchen thinking you’re making stuffing. Gosh-golly, that just looks real purty-like to me!
Now while the celery-business is sautéing put about 3-4 cups of water into your soup pot & bring to a boil & add your bullion cubes. (I’m sure for all you westerners, using canned chicken soup stock would work just great too but here in Nippon, we have no such thing for a Godly price, Amen?)
Next, let’s put about 1 tsp of salt & ½ a tsp of pepper. I’ve cheated & put some Celery Salt in there too. But I guess that’s kinda stupid cuz’ the whole point of that is to make your food taste more like celery. Hmm!!
Next, we shall dump the celery mixture (bay leaves too) into the simmering stock & leave that for a good 5-10 min. And then we’ll let it cool for a bit before we put some of the liquid & all of the veggies (NOT the bay leaves, please people) into the blender. Don’t try it boiling hot, unless you want a nasty surprise we shall call “Exploding Pain of Celery Soup Surprise”. Now, I like it really smooth (no innuendos) so I blend that for a min. or so. Ain’t that just the greenest stuff you ever did see?
Then it’s all back into the pot. Add about 2 cups or more of milk. Pls. don’t let it boil as that kinda changes the texture after the milk is put in & the taste too. And you’re done!! Serve hot. No one likes a cold soup. At least I don’t! And volia! If you’re feeling like being really un-healthy & really yummy, up your butter content & put actual “cream”, not more than ½ a c. at the end.
Well, that’s all I have time for today, as the monsters are loose in the chicken coop, but “PART 2 of Soup & Scones” will obviously tell the tale of the scones. Until then keep your toes toasty warm & your spatula in hand.
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