Creamy Celery Soup is rustic, yet not. I’ve begun serving soup as a first course, pacing the evening meal. Most recently I served this Creamy Celery Soup in advance of grilled ribeye and a beet salad. When Ron said, “What, no carb?” I pointed out to him that there are potatoes in this soup, so the soup counts as “the carb.” A rustic, delicate carb. He was happy with that.
Growing celery is challenging. Celery takes a long time to germinate and even longer to mature. Then it all matures at once and there’s no way to preserve it, really. So Creamy Celery Soup is on the menu every fall. This year, I had planned to harvest the celery the next day, but it was taken by a frost. I knew that the frost was forecasted, but I had read that celery could withstand a light frost. I guess that night was a heavy frost. A killing frost. Those seeds I planted, those seedlings that I nurtured, those plants that I fed and tended to – gone.
So I made Creamy Celery Soup with celery from BigY, our local grocery store. I don’t think I’ll grow celery next year – I can find better uses for my garden real estate. But I do love this soup, so next year I’ll be picking up celery at the farmer’s market. And there’s always the organic produce section of the grocery store any time of year. Such a luxury.
Creamy Celery Soup
Ingredients
SOUP
- 1 bunch celery
- 1 pound russet potatoes
- 1 large red onion
- 4 T butter
- 3 T King Arthur Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour
- 6 cups water
- 1 T sugar
- 2 t salt (divided)
- 1 – 2 T dried sage
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
SOURDOUGH CROUTONS
- 1/3 loaf sourdough bread
- 1 T olive oil
- salt and pepper, to taste
GARNISH
- olive oil (for drizzling)
- celery leaves (to garnish)
Instructions
- Prep veg – Chop the celery, un-peeled potatoes, and onion into a small dice. Reserve celery leaves for garnish.
- Preheat the oven and sauté veg – Preheat the oven to 400℉, convection bake setting. Melt the butter in your soup pot and add the veg and 1 t salt. Sauté, covered, on medium heat until the veg just begins to soften.
- Thicken and simmer – Sprinkle the flour over the sautéed vegetable mixture and stir until it's absorbed. Slowly pour in the water. Add the sugar, 1 t salt, dried sage, and bay leaf. Simmer until the vegetables are almost falling apart, 20-30 minutes.
- Toast croutons – While the soup is simmering, tear the bread into pieces. Don't remove the crusts – I like big, rustic, irregularly shaped croutons. Toss the bread with oil and salt and pepper, and bake them in the preheated oven until crisp. Watch them closely to ensure they don’t burn! Pull the croutons out of the oven and set aside.
- Blend – Fish out the bay leaf. Blend the soup until very smooth. I use an immersion blender, but a countertop blender would work too.
- Add cream and finish – Off the heat, stir in the cream. Ladle into warmed bowls or cups, and garnish with the toasted croutons, the reserved celery leaves, and a drizzle of olive oil.
COOKING NOTE: I used to use vegetable stock in this Creamy Celery Soup in lieu of water, but I found that the clean note of the celery is overwhelmed by the stock.
I am proclaiming 2024 to be ” the Year of Soup” for me. I will start with this soup.
I can’t wait to hear your thoughts! We’re planning to drop by some cupcakes for the “tester” tomorrow. I’ll leave them on the front porch if you guys aren’t around.