FRESH CELERY SOUP
serves 6-8
Once upon a time, celery saved me. We were prepping for our final night of service one year and had planned on serving a tomato soup, but with the cold curtain of fall having already fallen, there weren't enough tomatoes to work with. Luckily my friends Catherine and Alex at Calyx Farm had a bumper crop of celery, and what started as a backup quickly became the star of the show. Fresh, sweet celery cooked down with aromatics and given decadent body with butter and cream is nothing short of elegant.
1 teaspoon celery seeds
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 cups chopped celery (from about 1 bunch), leaves reserved for garnish
1 cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped carrot
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon celery salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup peeled russet potatoes cut into roughly 2-inch pieces
Kosher salt
5 cups low-sodium chicken stock
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ cup heavy cream
ADD THE CELERY SEEDS to a dry heavy-bottomed soup pot or Dutch oven set over medium heat. Toast the seeds, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the olive oil and stir to coat the seeds and heat the oil. Add the chopped celery, onion, carrot, and garlic and season with the celery salt and a few cracks of pepper. Cook, stirring, until the onions are just translucent, about 5 minutes.
Add the potatoes and season with two good pinches of kosher salt (don't be shy) and a few twists of pepper, then give it all a good stir. Add the stock and bring the mixture to a slow boil. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes.
Remove the pot from the heat and carefully ladle about half of the soup into a blender. Add half of the butter and blend until the soup is completely smooth and creamy. Return the soup to the pot and repeat with the remaining soup and butter. Stir in the cream and taste for seasoning, adding more salt and/or pepper if you like.
Divide the soup among the bowls and garnish with the reserved celery leaves.