If you are anything like us, when you are getting ready to leave town you check what is in the refrigerator and try to use as much perishable food as possible.  You put an extra egg on your salad. You eat some cereal to finish off the milk. The vegetables are the side dishes for the last few dinners.  

But what about a full bunch/head/stalk of celery?

I have found that the internet can be such a great tool for solving these problems.  Before we recently left to visit our grandson in Bellingham, Washington (and his parents of course!), I searched for a celery soup recipe.  I found one that was outstanding. Kimberly Killebrew from daring gourmet.com had a simple to follow recipe that looked like it would serve our needs. It was followed by numerous positive comments as well as a few suggestions for improvements.

Theresa suggested we consult The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg, a great kitchen reference book that suggests what herbs, cheeses, vegetables and proteins strongly complement each other.  I searched ‘celery’ and found a few good options.  We decided to add tarragon to the original recipe and it added a level of complexity to the flavor that we found quite delicious.  

Since we had an entire bunch of celery, we doubled the recipe which resulted in three separate lunches or dinners when we return.  The original recipe suggested that this basic recipe can be used for all manner of cream soups; mushroom, potato, asparagus, etc.  We both hope you will enjoy it.

CELERY SOUP

¼ cup butter

1 small onion

2 cups finely chopped celery

1 large garlic clove minced

1/3 cup flour

1 ½ cups whole milk

1 tsp salt

½ tsp sugar

1/8 tsp ground pepper

½ tsp tarragon

Sautee the onion, celery and garlic in the butter. 

Slowly add the flour and the milk followed by the herbs. 

Cook until it reached the thickness you prefer.