Celery Soup

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Each spring, Rick plants celery, hoping for a harvest. Most years, what has emerged from the garden hasn't been worth the time it takes to wash. Hard and skinny stalks with a bitter flavour.
Maybe it's the unusually cool weather, or the abundance of moisture, but this year's celery is large and crisp, unlike anything we've ever grown.

This celery would be perfect in my home canned chili sauce, but we don't yet have tomatos. I didn't want to just freeze the first fruits so I thought about making celery soup. I googled recipes, but those I found called for flour or others thickeners, which I'm not at all fond of. To me they give soup an odd, almost slimey texture.

I often cook without a recipe, going by instinct and taste, so I boldly ventured into the kitchen this morning to prepare my own version of creamed celery soup. I was so pleased with the results that I am going to share the recipe with you as best I can, realizing that, as usual, I did not measure. It's soup, after all, just throw things in, cook and enjoy!

FireFly's Creamed Garden Celery Soup

2 - 3 onions chopped

large bunch celery 2 - 3 pounds

vegetable oil to coat bottom of soup pot

(I would have used the leaves, but they were too large and tough)

3-4 large potatos peeled and chopped

3 tablespoons chicken broth powder

3 quarts water

dried minced garlic

handful of chopped parsley (mine was from the freezer)

pepper

Cook onions and celery in oil until fragrant and soft but not brown. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer until all veggies are soft. Puree with an immersion blender (regular blender or food processor work too). I like to leave some of the soup unprocessed for added texture.

That's it. Simple as can be, and believe me, this was better than any canned cream of celery I've ever eaten. I had a hard time not serving myself a bowl for lunch.

I might try adding some light cream (1/2 & 1/2) when I serve it tonight with toasted tomato (first ripe one's from the garden) sandwiches for dinner.