Celery and Stilton Soup

This is one of my very own :) Love celery and stilton together and this seemed a nice soup to try - even got people eating it who hate celery and stilton!! Nice starter for Xmas Day I think, although a little thinner and smaller portions.

(yes the pic is a small spoonful in a ramekin, I took the first pic of the big bowls before I ate it, and the card wasn't in my camera. Doh!)

• 2 leeks
• 1 bunch celery (ordinary bunch, no need for hearts or anything)
• 1 celeriac
• 40g flour
• 40g butter
• 290ml (1/2 pt) semi-skimmed milk
• 190g Stilton
• 1.2l vegetable or chicken stock (Knorr stock pots again)
• Cutting celery
• salt and pepper

Chop up leeks and slowly saute in a pan until soft. Chop up celery and add, including leaves. Peel the celeriac (you will lose quite a bit of it here, don't worry), chop into cubes and add to pan. Cook all ingredients until soft.

In a separate pan, melt the butter and mix in the flour over a low heat . Stir until the mix forms a smooth paste which comes away from the sides of the pan. Cook for a minimum of 2 minutes, stirring to avoid sticking. Pour in 1/5 of the milk and allow to boil without stirring. Then mix well until the mix is smooth and slowly add the rest of the liquid.

Crumble up the stilton and add to the thickened milk sauce.

Make up the vegetable stock.

Add the thickened stilton sauce to the vegetable pan and mix well. Then add the vegetable stock.

Finally add the cutting celery and salt and pepper to taste.

Allow to simmer for 1-2hrs, until all vegetables are soft and then blend to leave a smooth soup.

Serve with a swirl of cream and garlic croutons.

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