Last Sunday I needed 1 stalk of celery for a sauce. So I bought a package of celery because you cannot buy just one stalk and ended up having lots of celery in my hands. What did I do? I made lots of soup with each and every celery stalk. This chunky and herby one is one of them.

 

 

To be honest, I like celery root more. I find its taste softer but more aromatic. Celery is a bit too sharp in many cases. Yet, in this recipe, I used 4 celery stalks and it didn’t overpower the soup. Instead, I can say that it actually made the taste richer.

 

 

 

My original plan for this soup was to use beans. Cannellini beans to be exact. And until the moment I started to prepare the ingredients at home, I thought that I was going to make the soup with beans. I reached out to the carton of cooked “beans” and guess what? Apparently I bought chickpeas instead.

 

 

I almost stopped making the soup to quickly go to the market and buy beans instead. I was utterly devastated (dramatic much?). But I had opened the carton already so I continued with that. And it didn’t ruin the soup at all (well ok, I wasn’t really expecting chickpeas to ruin the soup, I just like beans more).

 

I like chunky soups a lot. Much more than blended soup actually. So I loved the end result in this case as well. The taste, the colours, the ingredients, they suit these unusually warm September days and remind me of summer.
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Ingredients:

 

Difficulty:  ★☆☆ (Easy)
(serves 4)

 

Printable PDF-recipe (no photos)

 

2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium size onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 carrots, diced
4 celery stalks, finely diced
1 lt. (or 4 cups) water
1 can (400 gr.) chopped tomatoes with juice
1 zucchini, diced
1 can (400 gr.) cooked chickpeas (or cannellini beans)
1 tsp dried oregano
1 ml (or 1/4 tsp) freshly ground black pepper
5 dl (or 2 cups, or 70 gr) rucola (I didn’t need it, but you can chop them a little)
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp freshly lemon juice (about half of a medium size lemon)

 

To serve (optional):
fresh chopped parsley
fresh basil

 

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1. In a large soup pan, put olive oil on medium high heat for about half a minute. Add onions and saute for 2 minutes, or until it starts to get translucent.

 

 

 

 

2. Add garlic and continue to saute for 2 more minutes.

 

 

 

3. Add carrots, celery, water and tomatoes with juice. Try not to make a mess while pouring tomatoes and juice – I did as you see in the photos! Stir and let it cook for 5 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Add zucchini, chickpeas, oregano and black pepper. Stir and continue cooking to let it boil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. When it starts boiling, turn the heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes.

 

 

6. Add rucola, salt and lemon juice. Stir and cook for 5 more minutes. When the soup is done, turn down the heat and let it rest for at least 10 minutes to rest. Serve with fresh parsley or basil if you want. Enjoy!