Celery-mushroom soup

Celery Season

Celery’s one of the first spring vegetables to come into season, because it’s basically a stem, like rhubarb or chives. It’s so exciting to have a new food after all those root vegetables and apples in the winter! But you can’t just be eating celery sticks all the time, so you need some decent recipes for things you can do with celery. This soup is an excellent choice for the early spring when it might still be cold; you can also use celery to make chopped chicken liver or chicken soup. Later on, when there’s a nice warm day, you can make celery granita.

How to make Celery-Mushroom Soup:

Chop about a third of a bunch of celery into small pieces and throw them into a large saucepan half full of water. If you’ve got the celery leaves, chop them and throw them in too. Add one chopped onion, a chopped carrot, and about seven regular small mushrooms, sliced into strips. Add a pint of frozen chicken soup, if you have any, or more water and a chicken or vegetable bouillon cube. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer until the celery starts to be soft. Then add a cup of macaroni or any kind of pasta noodles you want to use up. When the celery and the pasta are cooked soft, puree the whole thing together with an immersion blender. Add plenty of salt and pepper, and serve with crackers. (You have time to make the crackers while the soup cooks.)

Vegetarian or vegan?

This soup is vegetarian, and it’s vegan if you use vegetable stock or bouillon cubes instead of chicken. Better yet, use leftover frozen miso soup, or a little miso. Celery-mushroom soup is gluten-free if you use gluten-free rice in place of the macaroni, but my family thought it was better with the pasta.

Will celery-mushroom soup keep?

Yes, it will be good for several days if you keep it in a tupperware in the refrigerator. You might need to add a little water if it gets too thick.

Published by Karen Carr

Dr. Karen Carr is Associate Professor Emerita, Department of History, Portland State University. She holds a doctorate in Classical Art and Archaeology from the University of Michigan. Follow her on Instagram, Pinterest, or Facebook, or buy her book, Vandals to Visigoths.

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