St. Paddy's Day Soup: Cheddar Celery

Green soup has the potential to be a little terrifying. So St. Paddy's day is a great excuse for trying out a new recipe. Enter Cheddar Celery Soup. Normally I would let you know it's delicious but Selah pronounces it "good-licious" so I'm going to stick with that. Actually if I'm being completely honest, she refused to eat this soup and when I swiped a little bit across her lips so she could actually taste it before hating it she turned to me, scowled with the nastiest possible look, tears in her eyes and yelled, "Nassy!! Goss!!" But she really does say good-licious. Just not for this soup.
So while Cheddar Celery Soup does not have a stamp of approval from the two year old, the rest of us in the house happily slurped up the whole pot. It also has the advantage of being a great way to get in a significant portion of your daily veggie allotment. We served it alongside a gorgonzola chicken marsala dish- altogether a highly flavorful meal.


Cheddar Celery Soup
  
1 head of celery
1 onion, chopped
2+ Tbsp. butter
1 quart chicken stock
1 c. grated cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onions in the butter for 5 minutes until soft but not brown. Clean and chop the celery, including the leaves. Save a few leaves for garnish. Add the celery to the onions and stir. Then cover and cook on low heat for 10 minutes.
Add the stock and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes or until the celery is very soft. Add the cheese and puree with a hand blender. (Regular blender of food processor will also work). Serve with a few celery leaves as a garnish.

Easy Potato-Leek Soup

The last couple trips to the grocery store have caught me buying leeks galore. For some reason it's all about the leeks right now. Tossed into an omelet, used to whip up a Bacon-Leek Tart or as the inspiration for my most recent adventure, Potato-Leek Soup. For some reason every now and then Mike will ask me if what I made came from a recipe, implying that maybe I just threw a bunch of ingredients together. I guess the food looks suspicious. And maybe I did. This version of Potato Leek Soup I most certainly made up as I went but it did in fact turn out pretty tasty and now I have another reason to pick up more leeks on my next trip to the store.

Easy Potato-Leek Soup

1-2 Tblsp. butter
1-2 leeks, sliced (white and light green parts only)
1/2 c. white wine
4-5 medium potatoes, scrubbed and chopped, peels left on (or peeled if nonorganic/preferred)
2 c. broth (I used ham but chicken or veggie would be good too)
2 c. milk
1-1/2 c. corn (canned or frozen)
3/4 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
Shredded cheddar cheese

In large saucepan, saute leeks in butter over medium heat until tender. Add wine and simmer for a few minutes. Add potatoes, broth and milk to saucepan, cover and allow to gently boil until potatoes are fork-tender, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat and stir in corn. Add salt and pepper to taste and heat through. Serve with shredded cheddar cheese for topping.