Celery And Cashew Nut Soup

Actually, I don't really like celery. But I came across this recipe (in the book Homemade soups by Grace Mulligan & Dilwen Phillips) and it intrigued me. I couldn't quite imagine the taste of it and decided to go ahead and test it. And I have to say that the combination, unusual as it is, works well. Definitely worth trying. And it's such a great way of using up leftover celery ;)

Ingredients

25 g butter

1 onion, chopped finely

1 potato, peeled and diced

1/2 head of celery, chopped

80 g cashew nuts, chopped roughly

700 ml vegetable stock

15 g plain flour (I skipped it)

450 ml semi-skimmed milk

salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Gently melt the butter in a large lidded saucepan. Add the onion and potato and sweat for 5 minutes, covered, shaking the pan from time to time, until softened but not browned.

2. Stir in the chopped celery and cashew nuts and cook for a further 5 minutes.

3. Stir in the stock, bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

4. Blend the flour with a little of the milk, stir in the remainder of the milk and pour into the soup, stirring until the soup has thickened. I actually skipped the flour and just added milk to make it lighter. It works fine, too. 

5. Adjust the seasoning if necessary and reheat gently.