Cream Of Celery Soup

Eaten raw, the crunchy, nutty-sweet flavour of fresh celery hearts can brighten up many a salad or, cut lengthways into sticks, offer a refreshing hand-to-mouth snack when loaded up with a creamy dip. 

However, I think celery really comes into it’s own when it’s cooked and transformed into something altogether more stylish, such as silky smooth celery soup. 

This Cream of Celery Soup is intensely savoury and the very thing to keep out the winter chill. Using the outer stems from a large head of Cook’s Celery stripped bare of fibrous stringy bits, this sophisticated soup is the prettiest shade of pale apple green and so unctuous that if you closed your eyes, you could be forgiven for thinking you’re eating a cream of chicken soup rather than vegetables!

I buy whole heads of celery because I prefer to prepare it myself. I use the outer stalks for cooking and the more tender inner stalks for eating raw. Usually, I buy organic celery for flavour but for this recipe I purchased some Limited Selection Cook’s Celery from Waitrose because it looked so fresh and green and, as the packaging said ‘grown for flavour’, there was no reason not to! 

Celery is thought to have a calming effect on the central nervous system and to promote a good night’s sleep, so this soup might be just the right thing for a light supper. It works equally well for lunch, a heart warming snack or as a starter for an elegant dinner party.

Cream Of Celery Soup (4 servings) (V)

Ingredients

1 large leek, cleaned and finely sliced

1 medium onion, finely chopped

600g (6 cups) celery stalks, chopped 

40g (3 tbsp) butter

600 ml (2½ cups) vegetable stock (made with Marigold Organic Bouillon Powder)

200 ml (⅞ cup) whole milk

60 ml (¼ cup) double cream

½ tsp nutmeg

1-2 tsp sea salt and freshly milled black pepper

Instructions

In a large pan melt the butter over a low heat.

To clean the leeks, trim the roots and inedible parts off the leek, then slit it up one side and fan it out under a running cold tap to make sure there's no soil left lurking between the leaves. Cut it in half lengthways, then in half again before slicing it across into thin pieces.

To prepare the celery, cut the top and bottom off the celery sticks, wash off any dirt, then thinly peel off any stringy bits from the outside of the stalks with a potato peeler before chopping into smallish pieces

When you've chopped the celery, onion and leeks, add them to the pan. Stir well, to evenly coat the vegetables with butter, then cover them with a circle of baking parchment or greaseproof paper - make sure the paper reaches the sides of the pan and push it down so it sits directly on top of the vegetables (this helps to keep the steam in, so the vegetables are less likely to brown) Cook very gently for about 15 minutes until the vegetables are translucent and soft. Do not let them brown.

Add the vegetable stock. Bring to simmering point, cover once more and cook gently for a further 10 minutes, or until the vegetables are really tender. Take the pan off the heat and add the milk. 

Puree the soup by blending it in batches, then return to the pan and stir in the cream. Season with salt, pepper and freshly grated nutmeg.

Bring the soup back to the boil. Re-check the seasoning and adjust if necessary.

Just before serving, roughly chop the reserved celery leaves and sprinkle on top of the soup. 

Carbohydrate 16g Protein 4g - per serving

Creamy Mushrooms on Toast

Naturally low in calories, fat-free and packed with important nutrients (a mushroom has almost as much potassium as a small banana) Ancient Egyptians believed mushrooms were the ‘plant of immortality’. They are certainly hearty and filling, so eating mushrooms on our grain-free toast for breakfast is a double-whammy of goodness that can easily keep you going until lunch time and beyond.

The creamy mushroom tarragon sauce also works well with roast chicken. Alternatively, cook a selection of fresh vegetables (such as baby carrots, baby turnips, baby cauliflowers, broccoli florets, baby courgettes, sugar snaps peas or mange-tout) until they’re just tender and serve with the mushroom sauce for a light and healthy supper.

I think the very best crème fraîche for cooking is Rodda’s Cornish Crème Fraîche because it doesn't curdle at high temperatures. This makes Rodda’s Cornish Crème Fraîche a fantastically versatile ingredient for enriching sauces and soups. But that’s by no means all. It’s deliciously creamy texture and slightly tangy flavour eaten straight from the pot makes a very luxurious accompaniment for fresh fruit as well as our Spiced Fruit Pancakes with Orange & Apricot Syrup.

Creamy Mushrooms on Toast (Serves 4) (V)

Ingredients

680g fresh mixed mushrooms, e.g. button, chestnut, crimini and portabello

15g (1 tbsp) organic butter - plus extra for buttered toast

1 tbsp olive oil

200g (⅞ cup) full-fat crème fraîche

Large handful of fresh tarragon, finely chopped

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1-2 day old Grain-Free Bread, cut into 8 slices (about 1 cm thick)

Instructions

Clean and slice the mushrooms. 

In a large non-stick frying pan melt the butter with the olive oil until foaming. 

Fry the mushrooms on a medium-high heat until soft and the juices have begun to run. Turn down the heat and cook a few moments more until the mushrooms are cooked through.

Take the pan off the heat and stir in the crème fraîche. Return to the heat and simmer gently until thickened and the sauce has reduced.

Add the seasoning and most of the chopped tarragon. Keep warm over a low heat whilst you make the toast. 

Slice the bread and toast on both sides. Butter one side only and place two pieces of toast on four warmed plates.

Gently reheat the sauce through, spoon onto the toast and sprinkle with the remaining tarragon. Serve immediately.

Carbohydrate 20g Protein 16g - per serving

Creamy Mushroom Sauce, without toast 

Carbohydrate 7g Protein 6g - per serving

Tangy Mushroom Crostini

One of my best childhood memories was foraging for mushrooms with my Dad. Both field mushrooms and my father’s favourite, field blewitts, with their blue-lilac stems that we often found clumped together in ‘fairy rings’, used to be quite common in the pastureland and meadows of yesteryear. However, for me, nothing quite beat the excitement of finding pure white domes of edible goodness peaking out from under dew-laden grass, even if it meant the occasional slug finding it’s way inside my shoe! We even called our family cat “Gilly” because his fur was an unusual pinkish brown - almost the exact colour of the gills of a young mushroom.

 Chemical spraying and loss of habitat has all but destroyed the opportunity to discover, cook and enjoy the more flavourful wild mushrooms and most people now rely on cultivated mushrooms found on supermarket shelves instead. I suppose there is some compensation for the less than mushroomy flavour of cultivated mushrooms insofar that, alongside the more common white or chestnut varieties, more exotic looking fungi, Oyster, Shitake, Enoki, Crimini, Portabello and Beech Mushrooms, are all readily available too.

To add more flavour to sauces and soups, you can reconstitute dried mushrooms by soaking or simmering them in water before adding them to your chosen dish. For Vegetarians, the umami deliciousness of mushrooms can help fill the savoury flavour gap of vegetables and other non-animal based foods. Mushrooms are also officially recognised as a Superfood. Hence I reasoned that the next two Primal Plate recipes should both be for mushrooms on toast!

To prepare, don’t peel or soak mushrooms. If you soak mushrooms they absorb the water like a sponge and will then turn mushy when cooked. A quick light rinse under the tap is okay but ideally, if they’re not too grubby, simply cut off the bottoms of the stems and wipe them clean with a damp paper towel. Many herbs work well with earthy flavour of mushrooms but I particularly like the grassy accent of anise (tarragon) and parsley.

Tangy Mushroom Crostini is first up. This is an elegant interpretation of mushrooms on toast, suitable for entertaining. Coming soon... Creamy Mushrooms on Toast is more down-to-earth and makes for a relaxed breakfast, light lunch or filling snack at anytime.

Tangy Mushroom Crostini (Makes 8) (V)

Ingredients

1-2 day old refrigerated Grain-Free Bread, cut into 8 thin slices (no more than ½ cm thick)

4 tbsp olive oil

15g (1 tbsp) organic butter

225g (2 cups) mushrooms, wiped. I used a selection of chopped chestnut mushrooms and exotic mushrooms, either chopped or hand-teared into individual fronds.

1 tbsp brandy

1 generous tsp Dijon mustard

160ml (⅔ cups) crème fraiche

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Handful of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 200℃ Gas Mark 6

Brush the bread slices on both sides with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Put the slices of on a baking sheet - actually, I prefer to use the wire rack of my oven grill to get lovely looking professional griddle stripes!

Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool.

Heat the remaining oil together with the butter in a large non-stick frying pan.

Cook the mushrooms for 4 minutes over a high heat until golden.

Add brandy and cook for a few seconds more. Remove from the heat.

Mix the mustard and crème fraiche together and stir into the mushrooms. Season well with salt and pepper.

Spoon the mushrooms onto the crostini and sprinkle with parsley

Carbohydrate 5g Protein 3g - per crostini