I got a head of celery in my veggie box last week and I’m not a huge fan of celery. It’s nice now and then in juice, but it merely annoys me in salads and stir fries. Celery soup I can handle – about once a year. So I decided to try my hand at that. The results were surprisingly delicious.
Ingredients
- 1 med-large head of celery, washed and sliced ultra thin
- 1 smallish carrot, thinly sliced
- 1 smallish potato, diced
- 1 medium onion, sliced and diced
- 2 cloves garlic sliced and diced
- the left over stalks from a bulb of fennel, thinly sliced
- 1/3 cup cooked wheat grains
- 2 heaping serving spoons of red lentils
- 1 heaping service spoon large rolled oats
- 1 serving spoon tomato puree/paste
- freshly ground salt and pepper, to personal taste
- about 1/4 tsp paprika
- about 1/2 tsp mixed herbs (you may prefer more, I personally don’t want to taste them!)
Method
Cover the bottom of a heavy saucepan with oil, heat over medium-low temperature, and saute all the veggies together adding the spices as you go. Reduce heat to lowest temp, cover and leave it for about five minutes. The lid is to trap the juices in the pot while you cook the veggies. Stir now and then to make sure it doesn’t stick.
Keep your nose on high alert, and when the aroma starts to rise, and the veggies start sticking to the bottom of the pot, add a little water and stir. What you are after is a thick juice to simmer the veggies in. Keep stirring and adding water, a little at a time, until the veggies are just covered in water. The water should be brownish in color.
Sprinkle the oats and lentils on top then stir them them in. Add the cooked wheat grains and the tomato puree/paste, and a little more water, and stir some more. Cover and leave to simmer for another 5 minutes or so. Then check it, stir and add a bit more water. Cover and put on lowest heat possible to maintain a gentle simmer for 30-40 minutes.
Periodically uncover and stir. As the potato and carrot, oats and lentils cook, the juice will thicken and you will need to add more water to maintain a chunky soup consistency, but don’t add too much water or it will be watery and tasteless. Frequent tasting is imperative.
I served this with warm garlic and herb nan bread. It has almost made me a fan of celery. Or maybe it’s the organic celery that tastes so much better? I’ve noticed that before – organic celery actually tastes okay.
Not celery like I had – but a pic provided by Zemanta that I just couldn’t resist!
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Alison Amazed 