The Italians, who know a thing or two about comforting tasty food. rely on celery for its unique flavor, cooking it down from the get-go with the usual onions and garlic. You don't see it in the all-time champion comfort food, pasta e fagioli, that thick Tuscan macaroni and white bean soup, because it's been cooked down to nothing but a delicately bitter sensation that works in counterpoint with the sweetness of the carrots. It's in the starter, soffritto: carrots, onions and celery all chopped and sautéed together.
Same with the French. Celery is paired with onions and carrots to make their most basic flavoring ingredient: mirepoix. For the Germans, it's celery, leeks and carrots: Suppengrün. soup greens thought to give heart to any dish. Celery is even part of the Cajun Holy Trinity-- celery, bell pepper and onion--that tantalize every dish. Nobody should ever stew a chicken or make chicken soup without it.
The Persians, whose cooking is legendarily voluptuous and scrumptious, anoint celery with saffron and braise it into its own stew that will knock your mocks off. It's hard to find a more elegant companion for, say, a roast chicken or Thanksgiving turkey or grilled lamb chops. I love it so much I included the recipe in Veggiyana, the Dharma of Cooking, and include it in the recipes below.
If it's crunch you want from your celery, spare the tuna. Give it center stage on the salad plate combined with dates, almonds, mint, red onion and salty Parmesan cheese. It's summer perfection with seafood or on an antipasto plate. You can also combine it with summer's other crunchy vegetables--carrots, kohlrabi, radishes, daikon, bell pepper-- into a thick slaw.
So you can learn to love celery. Let me count the ways:
1.
Celery, Fennel and White Bean Soup
serves 6
1 bunch celery stalks, washed
1 large fennel bulb
1 red onion, peeled and coarsely diced or sliced
1 leek, cut into ½” disks and washed
2 lg garlic cloves, minced
1 shallot, peeled and diced
2 cups cooked white beans (Great Northern, Navy,
Cannellini—canned is okay)
4 lg Roma tomatoes, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
4 cups vegetable broth
5 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp fennel seed
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp salt
½ tsp coarsely ground black pepper
½ tsp black olive paste
juice of ½ large lemon
1 bay leaf
Heat 4 tbsp (1/4 cup) of olive oil over medium heat in a
stockpot or large casserole. Add the garlic, onions, shallot and leeks. Sauté
over medium heat for 10 minutes, or until onions and leeks are soft. Add fennel
seed, half the tomatoes and 1cup of broth. Continue to cook over low heat for
ten minutes or until everything starts to look mushy. Remove from heat, stir in one cup of cooked
beans and put the pot contents through a food mill or food processor to make a
chunky puree. Don’t process to a silky texture.
Cut the leaves off the celery and set them aside. Wash the
stalks and split the large ones down the center. Chop the celery into
bite-sized pieces. Save the leaves from the heart.
Cut the stems and fringe off the fennel. Strip the fringe
and save it. Quarter the fennel, and
slice it into thin strips.
In the same pot, heat the butter and 1 tbsp olive oil over
medium heat. Add the celery, fennel and
red pepper and sauté ten minutes or until they start to soften.
Stir in the thyme, marjoram, celery seed, salt and black
pepper. Add the remaining tomatoes and cook another five minutes.
Add 3 cups of broth, bay leaf, lemon juice and olive paste.
Continue cooking over low heat for 15 minutes or until both the celery and
fennel are soft and no longer chewy.
Stir in the coarse puree and the remaining cup of beans.
Blend everything, adjust seasonings to your taste, cover and simmer 5-10
minutes. Remove the bay leaf.
Chop the celery leaves and fennel fringe for garnish.
Serves 6-8
1½ bunches of celery, stalks apart and cleaned
4 tbsp butter
1 lg red onion, peeled and diced
¼ tsp freshly cracked or ground black pepper
2 bunches flat leaf parsley, cleaned and chopped (at least 3
cups)
¼ tsp saffron
2 cups vegetable broth
2 tbsp dried crushed mint
¼ tsp salt
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
Cut celery into 1” pieces, even leaves.
Melt butter in a large saucepan or medium casserole. Sauté
onion over medium heat until soft and translucent. Add black pepper and celery
and continue to sauté 5 minutes.
Add half the parsley (1½ cups or one bunch), saffron and
vegetable broth. Stir to blend. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low.
Simmer 30 minutes.
Add remainder of parsley except for 1 tbsp. Add mint, salt
and lemon juice, stirring to blend. Continue cooking for 10-12 minutes or until
celery is soft.
Adjust for salt and pepper. Garnish with remaining chopped
parsley to serve.
3. One from Mark Bittman
Braised and Roasted Chicken With Vegetables
serves 4
2
tablespoons chicken fat, reserved from the chicken-skin croutons (or use olive
oil or butter)
2
skinless chicken leg-thigh quarters
Salt
and freshly ground black pepper
1
skin-on chicken breast, split to yield 2 halves
3
leeks, trimmed, cleaned and chopped
4
carrots, chopped
6
celery ribs, chopped, leaves reserved for garnish
12
to 16 ounces cremini, shiitake, button or other fresh mushrooms, quartered or
sliced
3
to 4 sprigs fresh thyme or rosemary
Chicken-wing
meat
1.
Heat the oven to 350. Put the chicken fat in a roasting pan or Dutch oven over
medium heat. Sprinkle the leg quarters with salt and pepper and add them to the
pan, flesh side down. Cook, turning and rotating the pieces as necessary, until
well browned on both sides, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove, then add the breast
halves, skin side down. Brown them well, then flip and cook for just 1 minute
or so; remove to a separate plate.
2.
Put the leeks, carrots, celery, mushrooms, herbs and chicken-wing meat in the
same pan and cook until the vegetables are tender and beginning to brown, 10 to
15 minutes.
3.
Nestle the leg quarters among the vegetables, meaty side up. Add enough of the
stock to come about halfway up the thighs. (The amount will depend on the
breadth of your pan; add a little water if necessary.)
4.
Put the pan in the oven and cook, uncovered, for about 1 hour, checking
occasionally and stirring the vegetables if they threaten to brown too much.
When the thigh meat is tender, raise the heat to 400 and lay the breast halves
on the vegetables, skin side up. Continue cooking until they are done, 20 to 30
minutes longer.
5.
Transfer the vegetables to a platter. You can serve one of two ways: slice the
breasts and shred the leg-and-thigh meat and lay the meat on top of the
vegetables; or cut the leg-thigh pieces in half, cut the breasts in half and
give each person a little of each. Garnish with reserved chopped celery leaves.
Serves 6
1 lb dried white beans (Great Northern, Kidney, navy,
cannellini)
2 med/lg carrots, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery with leaves, diced
1 lg onion, peeled and diced
1/4 tsp freshly ground or cracked black pepper
1 tsp dried sage
3½ cups vegetable broth
3 red bell peppers, roasted and peeled
2 yellow or orange bell peppers, roasted and peeled
2 tbsp red wine vinegar (Balsamic is too strong)
5-6 tbsp olive oil
18-20 pitted Kalamata olives, slivered
Salt to your taste
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
Pick over the beans. Soak in enough water to cover and
refrigerate overnight.
Roast the peppers. Remove stems, skin membrane and seeds.
Chop into small ¼” cubes. Combine
peppers, vinegar and 1 tbsp olive oil in a glass or ceramic small bowl. Season
with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Drain the beans. Put in a large pan, cover well with cold
water and bring to a boil.
Boil for 5 minutes. Drain well.
In a large, heavy gauge pot, heat enough olive oil 4-5 tbsp
to cover the bottom.
Add carrots, celery, onion, black pepper and sage. Sauté on
low heat for 2 minutes or until vegetables are soft. Stir in the beans.
Add broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer
for 1½ hours until beans are tender.
Drain peppers. Add peppers and olives to the warm soup. Add
salt to your taste and finally the lemon juice.Serve immediately.
Great with an arugula salad, crusty bread and soft cheese.
5. Celery Date Salad
serves 6
8 celery stalks, thinly sliced on the diagonal. Chop the leaves too.
6 fresh dates, pitted and coarsely chopped
1/2 c roasted almonds, halve. Whole is okay too.
1/2 sm red onion, diced
2 tsp minced fresh mint leaves
pinch red pepper flakes
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 oz shaved Parmesan cheese
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 c extra good olive oil
Combine celery and leaves, dates, almonds, onion and pepper flakes in a serving bowl. Moisten with the lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Add the cheese and olive oil and lastly stir in the mint leaves.
6. Summer Crunch Salad
serves up to 8
6 celery stalks, cleaned and thinly sliced on the diagonal
2 carrots, cleaned, halved and thinly sliced on the diagonal
1/2 sm kolhrabi, cut into thin strips
1/2 fennel bulb, sliced thinly
4 radishes, thinly sliced
1 sm firm red bell pepper, thinly sliced into strips
1 bunch flat leaf parsley, minced
juice of a lemon
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 c olive oil
Combine all vegetables and parsley in a serving bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
Dress with lemon juice and olive oil. Serve and enjoy.
serves up to 8
6 celery stalks, cleaned and thinly sliced on the diagonal
2 carrots, cleaned, halved and thinly sliced on the diagonal
1/2 sm kolhrabi, cut into thin strips
1/2 fennel bulb, sliced thinly
4 radishes, thinly sliced
1 sm firm red bell pepper, thinly sliced into strips
1 bunch flat leaf parsley, minced
juice of a lemon
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 c olive oil
Combine all vegetables and parsley in a serving bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
Dress with lemon juice and olive oil. Serve and enjoy.
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