Although it gets really warm around noon, it’s still nice and chilly at night until early morning. And that means serving soup is still a good idea. Here’s an easy one from someone who, until recently, was not a fan of celery.
That’s right. Celery, for me, was something consumed sparingly for texture and for added contrast mostly in macaroni salad (there are two versions in the archive — one with ham and another with bacon). But appreciate it for itself, I did not.
My aversion to celery was probably rooted in the way I saw it served as a component of raw vegetable finger food. You know, a bowl of dip at the center of a platter with sticks of celery, carrot, bell peppers and cucumbers arranged around it. Dishes like that never excited me. Munching on celery and carrot sticks has always seemed like a punishment.
If you’ve seen Miss Congeniality (one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen and one we rewatch endlessly), there’s a scene that perfectly illustrates my feeling about celery sticks.
In the film, FBI Agent Gracie Hart (played by Sandra Bullock) begrudgingly agreed to go undercover as a beauty pageant contestant and while pageant consultant Victor Melling (Michael Caine) was getting her glammed up (teeth, hair and skin inculding bikini wax), she walked to a buffet table loaded with all kinds of meaty sandwiches. She picked one up, Victor snatched it and handed her a celery stick instead. Like I said — punishment.
But, two weeks ago, we had so much celery in the house. I ordered a bunch mainly because my daughter, Alex, read that including it in the dog’s meals was beneficial. But she only needed a stick or two for the dog, and I was left with so much more.
I took the opportunity to update the bacon macaroni salad recipe and come up with an idea to cook the rest into a dish that I would honestly like to eat. And this soup happened. It’s delightful. I’ll be cooking with celery more often in the future.
Ingredients
- 6 cups chicken bone broth
- 2 chicken leg quarter fillets (skin on) about 400 grams
- salt
- pepper
- 4 tablespoons butter divided
- 2 to 3 large eggs
- ½ cup thinly sliced scallions (white and light green portions only)
- 2 cups thinly sliced celery stalks
- ½ cup thinly sliced scallions (dark green portion only)
Instructions
- Pour the broth into a pan and switch on the stove to HIGH.
- Rinse the chicken fillets, rub generously with salt to remove impurities, rinse, dry with a kitchen towel then cut into chunks or slices the drop into the broth once it boils. Season with salt and pepper.
- When the broth starts boiling again, lower the heat and simmer the chicken.
- While the chicken simmers, heat two tablespoons of butter in a saute pan.
- Cook the scallions (white and light green portions) and the celery slices with a little bit of salt and pepper just until softened.
- Scrape the contents of the pan into the pot with the simmering chicken.
- Heat the remaining butter in the saute pan, beat the eggs and pour over the hot butter. Cook just unti set along the edges then flip and cook for another half a minute.
- Using a spatula, cut the eggs (right in the pan) into bite-size pieces.
- Add the cooked egg to the chicken and vegetables.
- Stir in the dark green portion of the scallions.
- Simmer the soup for another ten minutes.
- Taste the broth, add more salt and pepper, as needed.
