Cream of celery soup

Last week my mom and I went to visit the new McNally Robinson bookstore. On the top floor is a restaurant called "Prairie Ink" that looked inviting so we decided to eat lunch there. Each week the chef features food from a Canadian cookbook. That week it was "In the Kitchen with Anna" by Anna Olson. One standout item was the Cream of Celery Soup with Blue Cheese - it was delicious.

So I tried to make the recipe at home because I had the "bendy" celery in the fridge that would be perfect for this soup. Interestingly, even though the soup is "cream soup", there is no actual cream in it, just milk. I didn't have any blue cheese in the fridge and although it made the restaurant soup great, the soup didn't need it to be yummy. It was so delicious, even the children tried it and said it was good.

Cream of Celery Soup (based on a recipe from "In the Kitchen with Anna" (2008) by Anna Olson

3 tablespoons butter (I used half butter and half olive oil so the butter would not burn)

1 cup diced onion (I used one medium onion and 4 shallots)

3 cups of diced celery (I used the bunch I had, a full bunch minus 3 stalks that I had used before)

3 tablespoons flour

3 cups 2% milk

2 cups chicken stock

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme (I used 1/2 teaspoon crushed, dried thyme)

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons dry vermouth (I did not use this because I don't have any)

3 oz (90 g) blue cheese (optional)

2 tablespoons chopped chives (optional)

* Melt the butter in a large pot and add the oil. Saute the onions and celery for about 10 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour and cook stirring constantly for about 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of milk and cook, stirring well for about 5 minutes. Whisk in the remaining milk, then the stock. Add the thyme and bay leaf. Simmer, partially covered, for about 10 minutes. If you wish to add the vermouth, blue cheese and chives, do so just before serving (don't forget to remove the bay leaf).