Celery and blue cheese soup My ‘bottom of the fridge’ favourite

IAM a guilty impulse shopper when it comes to food. It’s claimed a third of all food used and produced in the Western world is wasted, and ends up in landfill accounting for 6% of greenhouse gasses.

Not only that, think of the amount of money a third of your food shop is.

Check out Stop Food Waste Day, on April 27th.

It’s a movement about educating and igniting change in the fight against wasted food.

So, to change my bad habits I’ve started a ‘bottom of the fridge’ routine at home.

I made this soup from bits and bobs in the vegetable drawer, ends of blue cheese and a swirl of cream that, to be honest, was ‘sour cream’.

It is delicious.

Ingredients

50g butter

1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped

1 leek, washed and finely chopped 6 -8 sticks celery, peeled and finely chopped

1 fresh bay leaf

1 large floury potato, peeled and cubed

1.5 litres of vegetable stock 1 teaspoon of celery seeds (if you have them)

Sea salt and freshly grated pepper 100g blue cheese, Hebridean blue or Lanark blue

2 tablespoons’ finely chopped flat leaf parsley

2-3 tablespoons’ double cream

Method

Melt the butter in a wide saucepan. Add the onion, leek, celery, and bay leaf, stir in the butter, and cook with the lid on for 10 -12 minutes until the onion and leek are clear and translucent, and the celery has softened. Remove the bay leaf. Add the potato. Bring the stock to the boil and add it to the vegetables. This keeps the cooking temperature the same and keeps the vegetables fresh and bright.

Alternatively, you can use chicken stock or water.

Simmer for a further 20 minutes until the potatoes have softened.

Allow the soup to cool a little. Use a blender to whizz it until smooth. For a smoother soup you can pass it through a fine sieve.

Bring the soup back to the boil, adding more water to get the consistency you prefer.

Add the celery seeds and season with sea salt and pepper.

To serve, crumble some blue cheese, add a swirl of double cream and a scattering of chopped parsley.

Mary Contini OBE is a writer and Director of Valvona & Crolla ltd. We are happy to welcome you in our CaffèBar and shop again, open all day. Book and order online: www. valvonacrolla.com Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.