A few days ago, I bought a stalk** of celery with the intent to use it in an as yet untried recipe. Then I forgot which recipe I had intended to make, which left me with a stalk of celery hanging fire in the vegetable bin.
Well, it’s Winter, according to temperature if not the calendar, and that means comforting, warming food like soup. I looked for a recipe that didn’t call for much if any butter or cream because I think that type of creaminess overwhelms the taste of delicate vegetables like celery, and found this one on the Erren’s Kitchen website that uses white potatoes as the thickening agent. Sautéd onion and garlic, then added celery, potatoes, stock, and a teaspoon and a half of Penzey’s dried Bouquet Garni.
The celery and potatoes cooked quickly—I checked them at the 15-minute mark, and found they were fork-tender. So I took the pot off the heat, and zapped the soup with the immersion blender. Result, two quarts of fresh-tasting soup with a thick, creamy consistency. If I wanted to add some dairy smoothness, I would’ve stirred in a dollop of plain Greek yogurt. But today,
I had a bowl for lunch with a slice of warm, buttered Trader Joe’s asiago-peppercorn sourdough. A tasty, relatively light but filling, winter meal. Definitely a keeper recipe to add to the soup & stew rotation.
(**as an aside, I’ve always called a stalk of celery a “bunch.” However, apparently a whole bunch is a stalk, while what I always called a stalk is a rib.