Celery and Stilton Soup

The Soup Lady likes nothing better than when someone else does the work. To that end, I enthusiastically recommend trawling the internet until you come across non-food blogs that have called for recipe submissions.  The Carnival of the Recipes is one of the more interesting ones. Conceived and originated by Beth of  She Who Will Be Obeyed! , it's the ultimate Real People/Real Recipes collection.  The submissions are dishes that people actually like so much that they wish to share with others.

It wasn't easy but I managed to maintain my lurker status until this gem showed up thanks to Cathy of Blue Heron at Druid Labs. I like this soup because it's simple yet rich and it's very easy to whip up.

Celery and Stilton Soup

1 bunch celery, 1  medium onion (chopped), 3 tablespoons of butter, 3 3/4 cups light vegetable or chicken stock, 2 egg yolks, 2/3 cup of half and half, 1 cup of crumbled blue cheese, salt and pepper to taste.

Reserve the inner leaves from the celery and chop the remaining celery. Melt butter in a large saucepan. Gently cook celery and onion, covered, until soft.  Add stock and bring to a boil. Simmer 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Cool slightly. In a food processor fitted with a metal blade or a blender, process mixture to a puree. Return puree to pan and reheat gently without bringing to a boil.

To finish the soup, beat egg yolks and half-and-half in a small bowl. Stir a small ladleful of hot soup into the egg mixutre and pour back into the pan. Stir in crumbled blue cheese, stirring constantly until soup thickens. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with inner celery leaves. Serve immediately.

Cathy writes these additional tips: "The recipe calls for Stilton, but gorgonzola works fine as will any strong blue. It's far easier to use a wand blender [to puree], and you don't have to wait for the soup to cool. If the soup is to be held, be sure to reheat gently."

The Soup Lady is a big fan of handheld blenders. Not only is it faster, easier and neater than using a food processor, but the big advantage as I see it is that there is far less washing up to do. For the ultimate in low kitchen clean-up, see if you can fox someone else into making the soup and taking a picture of it so you can see what it looks like. Thanks, Cathy!

Comments

[pam]

I love the Carnival and have tried a few of the recipes.

This soup looks wonderful!

[Shelagh]

What is "half and half"? I have some stilton that needs using and this looks gorgeous.

[barrett]

Fascinating recipe. Do the stringy bits of the celery blend up well, or do you need to troll them out before serving?

[Richard]

I worry that the egg isn't getting cooked enough to be safe?

[Robert]

Hi,
I love your site, but was wondering when you're going to update it. I like your site so much that I've linked you from my site as well.
Robert

[Mary Beth]

Just a message of support -- I've always enjoyed "the soup" and the witty descriptions found here. It would be too bad to lose it because of the actions of a bunch of not-a-clue-at-all lawyer types. Geesh. I can see how you would really be a threat to them.

[Pete]

What is half and half? I've been cooking seriously for about 20 years and never heard of it.

If your reply bounces, try yahoo.co.uk - Yahoo seem to change their programming every five minutes.

Best,

Pete
([email protected])

[Kake]

"Half and half" is a mixture of whole milk and single cream in equal volumes.

[Lisa]

Very good. Made it with gorgonzola and loved it. Would make an excellent opener for a dinner party.