Take, for example, this cream of celery soup from Joshua McFadden’s Six Seasons. If you have been reading for awhile, you know I love the book—nearly every recipe in it has some sort of mental flag on it, but if it were not for my mother, who made the creamy soup for a dinner party, where it was met with rave reviews, I likely would have never made it. I mean, I love celery, and I think it’s an under-appreciated vegetable, but in a book where there are distractions at every turn, this sort of soup could easily slip under the radar. But it deserves all the attention my mother has suggested it should. For one, making it is an exercise in simplicity at its best: sweat butter with onions and celery until soft; add water (or stock) and simmer 30 minutes; purée; add some cream, and simmer further briefly. But here’s where it gets exciting: While the soup simmers away, you make a salsa using reserved celery hearts and any leafy tops along with some toasted walnuts, raisins, and olive oil. Borrowing once again a move from The Zuni Café roast chicken and bread salad recipe, I used currants in place of the raisins and soaked them in a mix of warm water and vinegar. The addition of acid adds a subtle but nice sharpness, and while the salsa is delectable on its own, it really shines floating atop the creamy purée. Here’s what you need the soup: butter, celery, onion. Chop. Sweat. Purée. Ta da! Walnut salsa ingredients: toasted walnuts, chopped celery hearts, currants soaked in vinegar and water, celery seed, olive oil. Salsa, all tossed: For fun, I made the bread bowls from Bread Toast Crumbs using my mini spring form pans: If you’d like video guidance, I made the bread bowls on Instagram stories, too. No bread bowl, no problem. 5 from 3 reviews To toast walnuts: Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spread the walnuts on a sheet pan. Transfer to the oven and cook for about 9 minutes or until the nuts are golden and smelling toasty. Remove, let cool, then, if you’re up for it, transfer to a tea towel and rub away the skins. Then transfer nuts to a sieve and shake to remove the papery skins. Alternatively, toast in a skillet over medium heat until golden—watch closely.
