Curried Celery Soup

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This is another favorite soup from the Nicola Graimes Complete Vegetarian. My kids love it, and when celery goes on sale, it's nice and super cheap. This is a very warming winter soup, perfect for raw days.
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10ml/2 tsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 leek, washed and sliced
675g/1 1/2 lb/6 cups celery, chopped
15ml/1 tbsp medium or hot curry powder
225g/8oz unpeeled potatoes, washed and diced
900ml/1 1/2 pints/3 3/4 cups vegetable stock
1 bouquet garni
30ml/2 tbsp chopped fresh mixed herbs
salt
celery seeds and leaves, to garnish

1 Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion, leek and celery, cover and cook gently for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2 Add the curry powder and cook for a further 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3 Add the potatoes, stock, and bouquet garni, cover and bring to the boil. Simmer for 20 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.

4. Remove and discard the bouquet garni and set the soup aside to cool slightly.

5. Puree the vegetables in a blender or food processor until smooth. (in this case, smooth is actually a little lumpy, but in a nice way.)

6 Add the mixed herbs, season to taste, and process briefly. Return to the saucepan and reheat gently until piping hot. Ladle into soup bowls and garnish each with a sprinkling of celery seeds and some celery leaves.

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A bouquet garni is a seasoning packet. If you can't find them at your grocery store, use a mesh teaball or cloth tea sack and put in a sprig of thyme, a bay leaf, and 3 or four fresh parsley stems. I sometimes add some dried lavender flowers, too, about 1/2 tsp, because the floral flavor seems to complement the celery nicely.
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I think this soup would be VERY nice if it were served with cheesy Chebe rolls on the side, btw.
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GF since May '07, positive blood-test results.