Cream of Celery & Mushroom Soup

As the Northeast braces itself to face the Arctic "Bomb" Storm, my love for soup grows more than ever. The thought of a warm creamy soup entices me any time of the year, but even more this winter. I usually don't buy canned or packet soups from the store because they just never cut it for me. I personally don't think store bought "Cream of" soups match anywhere close to homemade soup flavors.
My last soup post was an easy yet time consuming recipe. This one however, is one of those perfect weekday cook ups. Easy and quick to make, amazing to taste.. Don't see any reason to wait to tell you more.. The initial recipe that I had referred to for this soup was a plain Cream of Celery soup. But I had leftover mushrooms that I threw into the mix, and I did not regret that one bit. But if you are not a mushroom lover, fear not, you can still devour this recipe, follow it exactly the same way without adding the mushrooms. You can basically use this recipe as the base for any other "cream of" soups. You could substitute the celery with mushrooms, asparagus, broccoli, etc.
For best results, make sure you use fresh and flavorful celery (you can tell by the color of celery, it would be a bright green color, with tightly packed stalks).

First, finely dice the onions, garlic, celery and mushrooms.

Melt butter in your pot, and add the garlic and a slit green chili. Mix in the onions and celery and cook them until the onion turns translucent. Since I have a gas stove, it takes me about 5 mins to achieve that. Once, the onions are translucent, add in the flour and stir for another 2 mins. Now add the broth.

I made fresh broth by boiling chicken, ginger-garlic paste, salt & pepper together. Once the chicken was cooked, I took out the chicken pieces and left the carcass with the leftover celery stalks and boiled that for another 10 mins. I then strained this broth and saved it for my soup.
I added the broth, some cream, and milk. If you want to make it less heavy, you could get rid of the cream and just use milk.
Stir immediately to avoid clumping. Increase the heat now and bring the mixture to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium then add salt, pepper, and any other herbs you'd like to add. For me personally, the flavor of celery and mushroom turn out delicious together, so I don't add any additional herbs. Now cook uncovered for another 10 mins, stirring occasionally.

Your deliciously creamy soup is now ready to devour! You can enjoy this soup as is, like I did, or use it for any recipe that calls for cream of celery as a base.

Prep Time: 15 mins  Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients: 

• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 white onion, finely chopped
• 1 packet celery sticks, finely chopped (about 6-8 sticks)
• 1/2 cup mushrooms (about 2-3 button mushrooms)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup cream
• 1 cup milk
• 1 green chilli
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Directions: 

1. Melt the butter in a pot. Add the garlic and chilli to the melted butter.
2. Add onion and celery to the pot and cook until onion is translucent ~5 mins.
3. Add the flour and cook for another 2 minutes
4. Then add the chicken broth, cream and milk to the soup, stirring continuously
5. Increase the heat now and bring the mixture to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium then, and salt, pepper and any additional herbs per your preference. 
6. Now cook uncovered for another 10 mins, stirring occasionally. 

If using as a base for another recipe, the soup will keep in the fridge for at least 3-4 days. 

This soup started off on a fridge cleanout day to get rid of my celery and mushrooms, but ended up being a real show stopper for me! I hope you enjoyed this recipe. Please feel free to share and comment. And let me know if you tried it. Until then, stay warm everyone.. Live, Love, Laugh and EAT. Oh yes, EAT! :)