Here is another wonderful and delicious soup, using our celery, leeks, and scallions.  You can enjoy this soup warm, but we love it chilled on warmer days.

Preparation Time:  30 minutes

Cooking Time:  30 minutes

Serves:  8 (8 oz portion) or 4 (16 oz portion)

INGREDIENTS:

• 5 cups diced celery
• 3 cups diced leeks, white and light green parts
• 2 cups diced scallions
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter (or substitute)
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley leaves
• 1 1/2 qts vegetable stock
• 1/2 cup unsweetened yogurt (non-dairy option: coconut or almond milk yogurt)
• Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
• Kosher salt to taste
• Black pepper to taste

PREPARATION:

• Wash the celery really well, drain, dice; set aside.
  • If your celery bunch came with leaves remove the leaves and thin stems after washing, drain, retain the leaves and thin stems for use in veggie stock.
• Wash the leeks really well, especially in the crevices around the leaves, as they may be sandy.
  • Cut off the root end, cut the white leek stem away from the green leaves, slice the white leek stem in half length-wise, dice, place in a large bowl with cold water, using your hands, move the diced leeks in the water to remove any sand, drain; set aside.
  • Separate the green leaves from each other under running water, remove any sand, drain, cut into 2 inch sections; retain the thicker green leaves for use in veggie stock.
• Peel and wash the scallions, slice in half, dice; set aside.

COOKING:

• Heat a large soup pot on medium-high, wait a minute for the pot to heat up then add the olive oil, wait another minute, add the diced onions, stirring frequently cook until caramelized (about 10 minutes), add the leeks and celery, stir, cook for another 5 minutes, add the veggie stock, bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, cook for another 15 minutes, stir occasionally.
• Your soup is almost done and while you can obviously eat it at this point we prefer to process it until it’s really creamy and then add the coconut milk.
• Ladle some of the soup into a high-speed blender and process at high speed until creamy; you may have to do this in batches.
  • Safety tip!  Do not fill more than 1/3 of the blender with hot items, especially liquids.  The soup will be hot so make sure you hold the lid of the blender down as the air in any blender with hot items especially liquid will expand rapidly.
  • Blend at high speed until creamy then pour the contents into a clean pot, repeat until all the soup has been pureed.
• Stir in the yogurt
• Season to taste with kosher salt and black pepper.
• Serve immediately or…
  • Cool the soup to room temperature as quickly as possible, such as an ice bath.
  • Pour into sealable containers and store in the fridge until chilled.
• Garnish with fresh parsley or a fresh celery leaf and a dash or two of ground cayenne pepper for a little heat.