Waldorf salad soup

What to do with leftover celery is a perennial problem for me. I can't believe I've never thought of using it up in a Waldorf salad. Mind you it's not exactly been salad weather of late, so I thought I'd try out a riff on the flavours using a celery and blue cheese soup as the base with various Waldorf-esque garnishes.

First up was the soup with croutons fried in walnut oil, caramelised apples pieces, celery leaves and extra helpings of blue cheese, drizzled with final flourish of walnut oil.

This was like a meal in a bowl: all kinds of bold flavours and textures built on a creamy base. This is not soup for the feint-hearted. The sweetness of the apple was amazing in the way that it gleamed like tart, fresh, juicy jewels against the celery and blue cheese and acting to bring the whole thing together.

Next came a more refined version heavily garnished with chopped parley and walnut oil with a big blue-cheese croute.

If you don't like blue-cheese, then you sure as hell aren't going to like this. This soup was a symphony in blue-cheese with the parsley helping to not make it so over-powering.

Celery and blue cheese soup

Ingredients:

Small onion, chopped

~1lb celery, peeled and chopped

Small potato, peeled and chopped

1oz butter

1dsp walnut oil

1pint vegetable stock

150ml double cream

150g blue cheese

Garnishes:

Parsley, chopped

Reserved celery leaves

Croutons fried in walnut oil

Apple pieces fried to give a light caramelised edge

Blue cheese

Walnuts, dry fried and chopped

Method:

1. Sweat the celery, onion and potato in the butter and walnut oil in a covered pan without colouring.

2. Add the stock and bring to a light simmer. Cook until all the veg is tender.

3. Add the blue cheese and cream and liquidise.

Garnish according to what you have and what you fancy!