Anne Morgan A whole head of celery and 150g of Stilton make Delia Smith’s celery and Stilton soup, which she serves to 6 at Christmas. The celery sweats in butter with a potato and an onion, then simmers in stock for half an hour. It’s blended with the crumbled cheese and a little single cream, and crisp fried croutons go on top.
It comes from Delia’s Happy Christmas (2009), where she names it after Fenland ‘dirty’ celery, the kind she buys in for the holidays. She sees it as a soup to serve with cheese at Christmas, and her Boxing Day supper in the same book puts English cheeses on the table with nuts, dates and celery, with port to finish.
Once the Stilton goes in, the soup turns pale and smooth, salty and sharp from the cheese. The sweetness of the celery comes through underneath, and the croutons give each spoonful some crunch. For an everyday bowl without the cheese, her celery soup made with milk and nutmeg is the lighter one.
Delia Smith’s Fenland Celery Soup with Stilton
Course: SoupsCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy6
servings20
minutes50
minutes340
kcalCelery, potato and onion simmered in stock, then blended with Stilton and single cream. From page 112 of her Christmas book, for 6.
Ingredients
- For the soup:
450g (1lb) celery (1 large head, trimmed weight), leaves reserved
50g (2oz) butter
1 potato (about 200g/7oz), peeled and diced
1 small onion, finely chopped
570ml (1 pint) vegetable stock
150ml (5fl oz) single cream
150g (5oz) Stilton, crumbled
salt and freshly milled black pepper
- For the croutons:
110g (4oz) thickly sliced stale white bread, crusts removed, cut into small cubes
2 tablespoons olive oil
Directions
- Celery: Separate the stalks from the base and trim them, keeping the leaves for the garnish. Trim off the stringy outer bits, scrub the stalks in cold water, drain and slice them thinly.
- Sweat: Melt the butter in a medium saucepan and stir in the celery, potato and onion until they’re well coated. Put the lid on and leave them over a low heat for 10 minutes to soften.
- Simmer: Take the lid off, pour in the stock and bring it up to simmering point. Cover again and cook gently for 30 minutes, until the vegetables are tender, giving them a little longer if they aren’t.
- Croutons: Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the bread cubes and keep them moving until they’re deep golden brown and very crisp. Drain them on kitchen paper.
- Blend: Take the soup off the heat and stir in the cream, then blend it with the crumbled Stilton until it’s completely smooth.
- Serve: Pour the soup into the rinsed-out pan and reheat it very gently, without letting it boil. Taste and season, then serve sprinkled with the chopped celery leaves and the croutons.
Notes
- Celery bought for the holidays keeps well the way Delia stores it in her Christmas plan. Scrub, dry and prepare it, then wrap it in large polythene bags in the fridge's vegetable drawer.
- The croutons can be fried up to a day ahead and kept in an airtight tin once cool, which is how she stores her baked croutons in The Delia Collection: Soup.
FAQs
Can I use another blue cheese instead of Stilton?
Yes, any good blue cheese makes a celery and blue cheese soup in the same way, which is my own swap, since Delia’s recipe names Stilton (she uses Roquefort in her cauliflower soup).
If you stay with Stilton, her Complete Cookery Course describes a good one as firm and creamy white with a clean network of blue veins. At six months it should be rich and mellow, with a sharp, salty finish.
White Stilton, the young cheese that hasn’t developed its blue, is mild and crumbly, so I’d expect a much gentler soup from it. She keeps Stilton wrapped in the fridge and slices it across rather than scooping out the middle, a habit she thinks spoils it.
Why mustn’t the soup boil once the Stilton is in?
Her method only says it shouldn’t be boiled at that stage. The usual reason is that cheese and cream can separate and turn grainy at a full boil, so keep the heat low and stop as soon as the soup is steaming hot.
If it does split, a few seconds with a stick blender usually brings it back together, which is my own fix.
Can I make celery and Stilton soup ahead or freeze it?
Yes, and cooking ahead suits her approach to Christmas, as she likes most of the holiday food prepared in advance. I’d cook the vegetables in the stock and stop before the cream and Stilton, which is my own way.
Chill that base quickly in a wide, shallow container and either keep it in the fridge for up to 3 days or freeze it within 2 hours for up to 3 months. To serve, bring it to the boil, take it off the heat, blend in the cream and crumbled Stilton, then warm it through gently.
Can I make it without cream?
You can, as the Stilton already gives it plenty of richness. Use the same 150ml of milk in place of the single cream so the soup doesn’t end up too thick, which is my own suggestion, and add it off the heat with the cheese just as the cream would be.
What can I do with leftover Stilton?
Make her Stilton rarebit, from the same Christmas book, which she wrote to use up the last of the Stilton. It takes 225g of the cheese crumbled with a fork and mixed with an egg, a chopped shallot, Worcestershire sauce, mustard powder, sage and walnuts, then spread thickly on toast and grilled for 2 minutes until bubbling.
It serves 4 as a snack or 8 as a nibble before dinner, and she says any hard cheese, or a mix of the end bits, works as well.
