Snowy Day Cream of Celery Soup

What's better than a steaming bowl of soup on a snowy day in January? (Apologies to those of you in sunnier climes.)

When I was a kid, my idea of culinary heaven was a bowl of cream of celery soup. Campbell's cream of celery in the red and white can. Nothing short of meeting Superman in person could have made me any happier than sitting by the radiator in the kitchen, slurping up soup and watching the snow fall.

I sit by a different window these days and have pretty much given up on meeting Superman, but I still love cream of celery soup.

Ingredients:

2 C chopped celery
2 C chopped carrots
4 T butter
2 C onions, diced
3 T flour
6 C hot chicken broth (or vegetable, if you prefer)
Salt and pepper
1 C heavy cream

In a small saucepan add 1 cup celery, 1 cup carrots, 1 cup vegetable broth. Bring to a boil , reduce heat, then cook until tender. Maybe 4 minutes? . Drain and set aside. In a larger saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions and saute until clear. Whisk in flour, cook 2 minutes making sure flour does not brown. You just want to get rid of that "raw" floury taste. Add 5 cups broth and continue to whisk until mixture boils, making sure to reach the bottom of the pan. (If it doesn't boil, it won't thicken.) Add 1 cup raw celery and 1 cup raw carrots. Bring mixture to a boil again, reduce heat, and simmer about 30 minutes. When cooked strain soup through a fine sieve into a clean pot reserving vegetables. In a blender puree vegetables with 1 1/2 cups of liquid. Stir puree into pot with liquid. Stir in cream, reserved vegetables. Heat and serve.