Winter Celery soup recipe: oven baked
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Starters and Soups, Vegetarian | 22 comments
Nothing beats the intense flavour of Winter Celery. We lament the fact that the season is so short. Just six weeks, from mid November to New Years Day. Winter Celery is grown in the dark soil of East Anglian Fens, just a few miles from our cottage, so we can always find it at its freshest and best.
When I spotted it in the shops on Saturday I was so pleased to find my old friend again. I returned home with a couple of heads and one purpose in mind: Winter Celery begs to be made into this superb winter soup. If you are feeling naughty reserve one of the hearts to eat raw with a hunk of stilton and some warm soda bread.
We make vast batches of this soup to freeze and enjoy later in the year. The slow cooking enhances the intense flavour and makes a truly memorable soup. It is cooked with no fat so, if you leave out the cream, it is low fat. There’s no dividing of ranks when you serve this to a mixed bunch of vegetarians and carnivores. Be warned, they might fight over the final ladle.
This soup is at its best if made and left for 48 hours (in the fridge). Somehow the flavours mellow even more.
| Winter Celery soup recipe: oven baked |
- 2 heads of Winter Celery. De-string the coarse outer leaves and chop into 5 cm pieces (approx 1 kilo)
- 600g of potatoes (peeled and chopped into 2 cm thick rings)
- 1 large Spanish onion, chopped roughly (approx 350g)
- 1.5 litres of vegetable stock (water and 6 teaspoons of Marigold Bouillon stock powder)
- A dash of dry white wine (optional)
- A couple of bay leaves
- A good dash of fresh ground pepper
- 350ml of single cream/creme fraiche to serve (optional)
- Pre-heat oven to 140 C (120 C fan-assisted).
- Prepare the vegetables as above and put into a large heavy bottomed, ovenproof saucepan.
- Add the stock, bay leaves and ground pepper.
- Bring slowly to a strong simmer.
- Cover the top with foil and put on the lid to create a tight seal.
- Place the saucepan on the bottom shelf of the oven for 2 hours.
- Remove the bay leaves and liquidise. Adjust seasoning to taste.
- Serve in warm bowls with a swirl of fresh cream and plenty of fresh bread.
Leave a reply
Hi Kim
Welcome to the UK!
I’m working for a Brit that lived in California for years. She said that Americans think that the Brits only exist on takeaway fish and chips!
I love good fish and chips.
We are now far more multi cultural these days and will grab and run with a good idea.
The UK has some wonderful classic dishes and a whole lot more!
Thanks for droping by and leaving a comment, most appreciated.
Hi;
We are new to the UK by way of California. Was dreading the thought of British fare, but sites like yours have helped me to discover wonderful dishes I would have never tried before. The celery soup is in the oven right now. The aroma of the vegetables is arousing our appetites. Can’t wait to dig in!
Hi Janet,
I love the idea of living abroad but like you I’d miss the seasons. Glad that you are enjoying the site!
I also googled for a recipe for celery soup and discovered your site! I am now living in southern spain and miss the English countryside and change of seasons quite a lot! It’s great to find your site where I can keep in touch with rural life in UK!
Hi Kirsteen,
Hope that you liked the soup!
Thanks for leaving a comment.
Hi – so glad to have found a recipe for celery soup where milk/cream is optional! My son is allergic to milk and i really wanted to make a celery soup for all the family, but they all seem to want dairy products!
Going to try this right away! Thank you 🙂
Hello Sarah
Thanks for taking the time to drop by and leave such positive feedback. Much appreciated!
I googled a search for some Celery Soup which brought me to your website.
Just wanted to say thankyou for the recipe.
Your site is great, keep up the good work, i’ll add you to my blogroll so I can keep up with your adventures.
This is the most suitable place to post this I think. Today I made the most wonderful steamed autumn veg. (the last 8 shoots of calabrese, 2 chanteney carrots, washed but unpeeled Desiree spuds) with Cumberland pork sausages and cider gravy. But by far the best of all was the first attempt at Dried Peas with chives, mint and cream. Ever tried this, anyone? The recipe comes from BBC’s Woman’s Hour site and is delicious with or without the cream. The gravy came about by accident because I added the veg stock cube and boiling water to the residue of last night’s cider jug. When making instant gravy I often make additions such as fresh or dried herbs, fried onions, wine/beer/cider or even just a knob of butter to give it oomph. But today’s was a fortunate accident. Lucky me to be able to eat so well!
this one’s been printed, though will be substituting fenland grown with home grown, slug damaged stalks and all. the brown bits won’t show in a soup! I love this time of the year for the homemade vegetable soups and stews made with hardy roots and shoots..