Recipe Celery soup with fried Celery leaves and toasted Nigella

AgileMJOLNIR

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This is a delicious recipe for a nice Celery soup. I prefer using sour cream instead of cream to add a little tang and keep it light, though cream is delicious as well should you prefer:)

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INGREDIENTS​

  • 2 tablespoon olive oil, or butter
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 4 fat garlic cloves, rough chopped
  • 606 grams celery, sliced thin (about 1 1/4-1 1/2 pounds) 1 extra-large head, save some leaves for garnish
  • 300 grams potatoes, sliced into 1/2 inch thick rounds ( about 3/4 lb – 1 extra-large russet peeled, or use a few yukons, unpeeled.
  • 948 ml veggie or chicken broth ( or 4 cups water + 1 tablespoon “Better than Bouillon” Vegetable Base)
  • 237 ml water
  • 1 bay leaf (optional, remove before blending)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon cayenne, start conservatively, add more to taste or leave it out entirely.

ADD​

  • 2.2 grams fresh dill (small stems ok)
  • 12 grams fresh parsley (small stems ok)
  • Stir in: 115 grams (or more) of sour cream, plain yogurt, vegan sour cream, heavy cream or cashew cream.
  • Garnish: Crispy celery leaves, nigella seeds, hemp seeds (all optional, but delicious!)

METHOD​

  1. Heat the oil in a big pot over medium-high heat and add the onion, stirring occasionally, letting the onions get golden, about 5 minutes.
  2. Add the garlic and stir 1-2 minutes, until fragrant.
  3. Add the celery, potatoes, broth, water, bay leaf, salt, pepper, and cayenne. The liquid should just cover the veggies ( if not, add a little more water). Cover, bring to a rolling boil, turn heat down and simmer gently until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.
  4. Turn heat off, remove bay leaf and add the fresh herbs and just wilt them (don’t cook herbs or you lose the vibrant color!)
  5. Using an immersion blender blend until very silky smooth – OR if using a regular blender, let cool before blending in smaller batches. ( If blending warm soup, fill blender no more than halfway full, cover tightly with a lid and kitchen towel, holding it down firmly, when you start the motor (on the lowest setting, working up gradually) to prevent a blender “explosion”).
  6. Blend well, a full minute, until herbs are fully blended, creating a vibrant colored soup. For extra “green” color, add a handful of raw baby spinach if you like, or more fresh parsley.
  7. Place it back in the same pot over low heat. Stir in your choice of sour cream, or any of the other options. Gently heat, careful to not over-simmer, or you may lose the lovely vibrant color.
  8. To make the crispy celery leaves, heat a generous amount of olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Wait until the oil is hot. Fry a “tester” celery leaf for 10-20 seconds on each side. Set on a paper towel. If it is crisp, continue on. Adding a few at a time, not overly crowding. If not crisp, fry them a little longer. You want about 3-5 leaves per serving bowl. In the same oil, you could fry the nigella seeds until you just begin to hear popping. Turn heat off. Arrange the crispy celery leaves in a crescent shape. Spoon a little of the nigella seeds along with a little oil in the same shape. Sprinkle with hemp seeds if you like.
Source: Simple Celery Soup
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Its a lovely recipe! I like the idea of crispy celery leaves as garnish.

N.B: I think you made a typo re the source (I've corrected it).
 
This looks fantastic. Were there any threads in the soup? I'm paranoid when it comes to using celery stalks: I've gone so far as to use a potato peeler to shave them off before. But, I've never done that when I've used celery in a gumbo, so maybe I'm just being overly cautious.

Also, I'm relieved you roasted the seeds and not this Nigella:

81sfvVVxq7L._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg
 
This looks fantastic. Were there any threads in the soup? I'm paranoid when it comes to using celery stalks: I've gone so far as to use a potato peeler to shave them off before. But, I've never done that when I've used celery in a gumbo, so maybe I'm just being overly cautious.

Also, I'm relieved you roasted the seeds and not this Nigella:

View attachment 99147
Well hellllooo there Nigella :wink:

Nope no threads! I did peel them with a potato peeler and the soup was smooth as silk out of the blender.
The toasted Nigella (the seeds lol) are really good on this. I love the crunchy texture it ads on the top layer along with the crisp celery leaves. The soup is pretty healthy too, using sour cream instead of cream it had a nice flavor but didn’t send me into food coma:)
 
This looks fantastic. Were there any threads in the soup? I'm paranoid when it comes to using celery stalks: I've gone so far as to use a potato peeler to shave them off before. But, I've never done that when I've used celery in a gumbo, so maybe I'm just being overly cautious.

Also, I'm relieved you roasted the seeds and not this Nigella:

View attachment 99147

There is a trick to getting rid of most of the threads without peeling. You snap the stalk into two pieces, and pull the pieces apart.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryXJBfb37UQ


CD
 
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