Celery and Pear Bisque

"From Bon Apetit, November 2010."
 
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photo by *Parsley* photo by *Parsley*
photo by *Parsley*
Ready In:
50mins
Ingredients:
8
Serves:
6
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ingredients

  • 4 12 tablespoons butter
  • 6 cups thinly sliced celery, with leaves plus chopped leaves (preferably organic, about 12 stalks, for garnish)
  • 18 ounces unpeeled ripe bartlett pears, cored, diced (generous 3 cups)
  • 1 12 cups leeks (the chopped dark green tops)
  • 3 small turkish bay leaves
  • 1 12 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
  • 1 12 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 3 cups low-salt chicken broth (or more)
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directions

  • Melt butter in pot over medium-high heat. Add sliced celery, generous 3 cups diced pears, leek tops, bay leaves, and thyme. Cover; cook until celery softens, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Toss in flour. Stir in 3 cups broth; bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until celery is tender, about 20 minutes.
  • Remove bay leaves from soup. Puree soup in batches in blender until smooth. Return puree to same pot. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Thin with more broth by 1/4 cupfuls, if desired. Rewarm briefly.
  • Divide soup among bowls; garnish with 1/2 cup finely diced pear and celery leaves.

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Reviews

  1. This bisque is incredible! I love that it's thick and creamy without any cream. Plus, it uses simple everyday (inexpensive) ingredients and the results are impressive enough for a fancy dinner party. I added a few tbsp of dry white wine, but otherwise stuck to the recipe right down to the garnishes. I may even add crumbled goat cheese to the garnishes next time. Thanx for posting this!!!
     
  2. Divine. Followed the recipe to a "T" and it was a big hit. To the person that gave it one star -- if you are going to fundamentally change a recipe, it's really not fair to then downgrade it because it didn't turn out right. There is a HUGE difference between chicken broth and vegetable broth. Why not just chalk up the failure to your own foolishness? This is an amazing recipe.
     
  3. I had a bunch of celery that I needed to use up so I thought that this recipe would be great, however I was wrong. The only thing I substituted was vegetable broth instead of the chicken broth because that is what I had on hand. My husband and I did not like this at all. We are not picky eaters and try everything once, but I will not be making this again. It reminded us of some kind of baby food.
     
  4. This has a very unique taste that I can only describe as Celery and Pear Bisque, lol. I thought that it would be oddly sweet but it isn't. There is a hint of pear in every bite and it really complements the celery and other ingredients. I used vegetable broth as it was what I had on hand. I would make this again. Tastes fattening and isn't really.
     
  5. Took a chance on this. Not really in my wheelhouse, but used it as opening course for xmas dinner and it was a big hit. Used the blender to liquify and that worked perfectly. I followed the recipe to a tee except using Bosc pears (peeled). Hard to believe there's not cream or the like in the finished product. Several guest remarked that the garnish (small cubes of pear) made the dish perfect.
     
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<style>body { background: url("http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3639/3512121819_f2f1aaf050.jpg?v=0"); background-repeat: repeat-y; }</style> OK, here goes. I live in Athens, Greece. I moved out here many, many years ago from Ottawa, Canada - so I am blessed in having two wonderful heritages! I suffer from compulsive obsessive behaviour with regard to food and my psychiatrist thought it would be a good idea to find a 'society' where many have the same problem and try to find a cure. So far, I've copied a couple of thousand recipes from this site and my psychiatrist has thrown the towel in and refuses to answer the phone when I call. What did I do wrong? Got 3 kids that keep me on the go - 10 and under at this point (2008) - I may not get round to updating this for a few years, so you'll have to do your own maths. I teach English full-time and Greek Cookery part-time. I would like to make the cooking part of it full-time and the English Grammar part of it part-time. That's all for now.
 
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