Cream of Celery Soup with Blue Cheese

By The Canadian Living Test Kitchen

20 people added this to their Recipe Box

Rate this recipe »

Cream of Celery Soup with Blue Cheese
Photography by Jim Norton

This recipe makes 8 servings

Nutritional Info
Per serving: about	-
cal	227227 cal
pro	7 g7g pro
total fat	17 g17g total fat
sat. fat	11 g11g sat. fat
carb	13 g13g carb
fibre	2 g2g fibre
chol	52 mg52mg chol
sodium	754 mg754mg sodium
potassium	403 mg403mg potassium
% RDI:	-
calcium	1616 calcium
iron	44 iron
vit A	1818 vit A
vit C	1313 vit C
folate	1616 folate

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cook time : 30 minutes
Total time : PT40M

Serve this soup hot on cold days or cold on warm ones. Organic celery is easy to find; it has a more pronounced taste than conventionally grown celery and is highly recommended.

Ingredients

2 tbsp butter 2 2tbsp tbspbutter
7 cups chopped celery , (about 1-1/4 lb/625 g)7 7cups cupschopped celery, (about 1-1/4 lb/625 g)
1 large white onion , chopped1 1large white onionwhite onions or Spanish onion, chopped
1-1/2 cups cubed peeled potatoes 1-1/2 1-1/2cups cupscubed peeled potatopotatoes
3/4 tsp salt 3/4 3/4tsp tspsalt
1 pinch white pepper 1 1pinch pinchwhite pepper
1 pinch nutmeg 1 1pinch pinchnutmeg
2 cups sodium-reduced chicken broth 2 2cups cupssodium-reduced chicken broth
3/4 cup whipping cream 3/4 3/4cup cupwhipping cream
6 oz Bleu Bénédictin cheese , or other Canadian blue cheese, crumbled6 6oz ozBleu Bénédictin cheese, or other Canadian blue cheese, crumbled
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh chives 1 1tbsp tbspfinely chopped fresh chivefresh chives
freshly ground Pepper freshly ground Pepper

Preparation

In soup pot, melt butter over medium heat; add celery, onion, potatoes, salt, white pepper and nutmeg. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally and reducing heat if vegetables show any sign of browning, until celery and onion are tender, about 10 minutes.

Add broth and 2-1/2 cups (625 mL) water; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until potatoes are falling apart, about 20 minutes.

In batches, purée in blender; strain through fine sieve. Reheat soup in clean soup pot; stir in cream and bring to simmer. Stir in 1 cup (250 mL) of the crumbled cheese until melted.

Ladle into bowls. Sprinkle chives over soup; top with remaining cheese. Sprinkle with pepper to taste.

Additional information : Switch it up
Cold Cream of Celery Soup with Blue Cheese
Replace butter with olive oil and whipping cream with sour cream.

Cook as directed; after straining puréed hot soup, stir in 1 cup (250 mL) of the cheese until melted (if soup isn't hot enough and cheese doesn't melt completely, return to heat and stir until melted).

Let cool; whisk in sour cream. Chill in refrigerator. Taste and add more salt if needed (blue cheeses vary in saltiness, and cold soups generally need a little extra). Garnish as above, adding an extra dollop of sour cream, if desired.

Source : Canadian Living Magazine: September 2010