Dill & Celery Soup

This vegetarian soup can be served warm, hot or cold. It can also be made with half the amount of dill than I used if you want more of the celery flavor in the foreground. Served cold, it is a perfect lunch soup for summer. Served hot, it will warm you up inside during colder days or nights. The recipe below makes four servings.

Celery Soup

INGREDIENTS:
8 celery stalks
1 green zucchini
1 small or medium yellow onion
1-2 potatoes
2 oz. Butter
1 cup fresh dill leaves (or ½ cup frozen dill)
3 tbsp olive oil
½ cup sour cream, crème fraîche, or heavy cream
3 cups vegetable broth (I make my own and will post recipe later.)
3 tbsp dry white wine
freshly ground pepper
freshly ground nutmeg

The beginning of the cooking process

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Peel the potatoes and chop them up in smaller chunks. Chop the celery, onion, and zucchini into smaller chunks as well. Put it all in a pot with the butter and olive oil and cook while stirring until the onions start looking slightly translucent.
2. Add the broth and simmer until potatoes are cooked through. Add the wine halfway through so that the flavor is absorbed and the alcohol is evaporated.
3. Add the dill and mix the soup in a blender until smooth. (You want to use mostly leaves of dill so make sure you remove any coarse stems before adding it to the soup.)
4. If you want a cold soup, strain it and stir in some heavy cream. If you want to serve it warm, just add a dollop of sour cream or crème fraîche on top when you serve it. You will get a heartier soup if you don’t strain it and serve it warm or hot.
5. Serve with some freshly ground nutmeg and black pepper on top.

Optional:
– Add a couple of tablespoons of apple cider vinegar at the end of the process for a different flavor profile.

Vegan version:
– Use double the amount of olive oil or add canola oil instead of butter if you want to make a vegan version. In that case, you can use coconut milk to get the creamy consistency instead of cream. (Make sure you buy coconut milk that doesn’t come from child labor or animal abuse!)

Strained soup served cold


Banana Bread

Delicious banana bread is a fun and easy thing to bake. Here is my recipe. Try it out and let me know how you like it!

Ingredients
3 very ripe bananas
4 oz. butter (soft, room temperature) (115 g.)
2 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour (0.5 L)
¾ cup brown sugar (2 dl)
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp salt
½ – ¾ cup walnuts (optional) (1½ dl)
½ cup sour cream or plain greek yoghurt (optional) (1 dl)

Instructions
1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees (= 175˚C). Line a standard 9 x 5 inch bread pan with parchment paper and cover with a thin layer of butter or cooking spray.

2. Mix the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and set to the side.

3. Mix the butter with the sugar and vanilla extract using a hand mixer until it is smooth and blended. Add the eggs and continue mixing while adding the peeled and crushed bananas and the sour cream. Add the flour mix and keep mixing at low speed. Add the nuts and stir it up before pouring it into the baking pan.

4. Bake for about one hour until a toothpick in the center part comes out dry.

5. Let it cool off on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before lifting the entire loaf out of the pan, using the parchment paper. After it has cooled off, store it in plastic. It will keep longer in the fridge than in room temperature, but it will taste so good that it is not likely to last long wherever you store it!