Cold Celery Soup With Purple Potatoes

Soups are regularly on our weekly menu...and there is no exception in the Summer ( and I am talking Northern Hemisphere Summers!!) You see, when we were in the Alpsa few days ago, there were days when we were not taking our fleece away and even my husband who, unlike me, is not cold sensitive was not taking his away, c'est pour dire!.. Too cold.  On those depressing June days, hot soups were more than welcome! Une bonne soupe poireaux-pommes-de-terre with local cheese and cream! Delicious!
On hot days like today (temperatures reaching above 30 C or 86 F), cold soups are de rigueur.
In addition to being a way to feed more vegetables to my family, soups are also a good way to have my children drink extra liquids. Over the past few weeks, I noticed that my daughter was not drinking enough. When she is in school, she generally drinks a bowl of chocolate milk in the morning, then she has a mid-morning glass of water/juice in school and then she drinks from her water bottle over lunch and then again when she comes home at goûter and at dinner. On vacation, instead of increasing her water intake because of heat, she actually decreased it. And if there is something that is not good for anybody, it's not to drink enough. It's even more dangerous with girls as they tend to be prone to urinary tract infections that a lack of water only accerbate. I am now more aware of her need to be reminded that she needs to drink more. I keep telling her to "boire plus".... but as a way to increase her daily water intake in the Summer, I make cold soups as well.
This recipe for Celery Soup can be served both cold and warm. Because celery has a strong flavor, I used a few potatoes in the soup as well. And since celery is not my husband's favorite vegetable either (too many bad céleri rave salads growing up (a salad made of shredded celery roots with mayonnaise that was unfortunately a regular on our school menu)), I made sure to serve the soup with "something else" to make it more attractive. In this case, I used purple potatoes that I sauteed together with extra tiny cubes of celery in olive oil for a few minutes. This was a big hit among both my children and husband. My children had never seen purple potatoes before, so there was something new to eat...but to be honnest, I could have used regular potatoes and it would not have made a difference for them. Who does not like pommes-de-terre sautées? To me, it made a difference because the end-result was joli and appétissant. And that matters a lot, especially when cooking with root celery that is not attractive in the first place! Bon Appétit!

Ingredients
- One head of root celery
- 2 medium potatoes
- Light cream
- A few purple potatoes (optional), cut into tiny dices.
- Olive oil, salt and black pepper to taste

• Start by pealing and cutting the celery roots.  Cut a few dices that will be sauteed with the potatoes
• Peal and cut the yellow potatoes as well.
• Saute the celery and potatoes in olive oil for a few minutes
• Cover with water and simmer for 15 minutes until cooked
• Using an immersion blender blend the soup. If you are serving it chilled, put it in the fridge for at least one hour. The longer, the better.
• About 15 minutes before serving, saute the purple potatoes and celery root dices in olive oil.
• Just before serving (cold or warm), add a few spoon of light cream
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Serve with purple potatoes and celery root dices.

My Personal Comments

• I like it both warm and cold.
• If you don't want to serve it with purple potatoes, you could serve it with a little bit of fresh chive or tarragon.