Gigi’s Easy And Slimming Celery Soup

Celery has to be one of my least favorite vegetables raw; however, once cooked, I adore the it. My mother-in-law introduced me to this soup. It is one of her creations. I love that it’s super healthy and so delicious. I could absolutely have a gallon of this stuff and not feel guilty afterwards.

In this recipe, you’ll use a whole bunch of celery, including the leaves. It takes about 30 minutes from start to finish and serves about 4-5 people.

Here is what you’ll need:

• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 whole bunch of celery with leaves included, de-strung and diced along with the leaves
• 3/4 tsp. salt and a couple of rounds of black pepper
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 2 tbsp. lemon juice, or juice from about half a lemon
• 1 egg

In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and sauté for about a minute. Add the celery and sauté for another minute. Add the salt, pepper, and chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Cover, turn heat down to medium, and cook for about 25 minutes.

Now comes time to temper the egg. In order for the egg not to scramble in the soup, we need to slowly incorporate the egg into the soup. In a bowl, whisk the egg with the lemon juice until smooth. Slowly ladle about a 1/2 cup of the celery soup (liquid only) into the bowl while whisking well. Do this one more time with another 1/2 cup of soup into the bowl while whisking.  Finally, slowly pour in the egg mixture into the soup pot while stirring the soup. Using a hand-held immersion blender, blend the soup until smooth.  Turn the heat down to a low simmer and cover. Continue to cook the soup for about 5 minutes and serve.