Celery has been eaten since ancient times and is an essential of more than one world cuisine, but it never appears in a starring role. I’ve called it my favorite vegetable, but never written about it specifically. Here we go.
Celery Stir-Fry
This hardly needs a recipe, but I have to mention the best basic approach to cooking celery. Serves 2.
- 5 stalks celery, trimmed, sliced diagonally
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (or to taste)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
Heat oil in a wok or large skillet. Add red pepper if desired, then when oil is very hot add garlic and celery. Cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add soy sauce (I also add some Lawry’s seasoned salt), cook another minute, and serve immediately.
Chinese “Pickled” Celery
I love the flavor of this. About 3 cups, 12 appetizer servings, from Farmer John’s Cookbook .
- 1 pound celery, cut into pinkie-size pieces. The pale inner stalks are best for this recipe, you might want to use the inner parts of two heads of celery.
- 1 tablespoon plus ½ teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon sake or rice wine or sherry
- 1 tablespoon minced scallion
- 2 teaspoons peanut oil
- 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
Mix together the celery, sugar and salt in medium bowl. Let stand on counter 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. This will draw water from the celery.
Meanwhile, combine soy sauce, sesame oil, sake, scallion, oil, vinegar and garlic in a large jar. Cover tightly and shake until mixture no longer separates.
Drain celery in colander and rinse under cold water to remove salt and sugar. Drain well.
Rinse bowl. Return celery to bowl. Shake dressing once more and pour over celery, stir to combine. Refrigerate 4 hours, stirring at least twice in that time. Keeps up to one week in refrigerator. [After the first day garlic really takes over the flavor.]
Spicy Marinated Celery (Giardiniera)
4 to 5 cups, from Michael Symon
- 1 pound celery, trimmed and thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1 tablespoon toasted coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon ancho chile powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 2 Jalapeno chiles, sliced into thin rings
- 1 Fresno or Serrano chile, sliced into thin rings
- 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
Mix everything together in a nonreactive bowl. Marinate at least 24 hours.
[My comments: I like the above salad better but will try this again. I wimped out on the heat and then regretted it. I didn’t look up what a Fresno chile was and subbed something milder; a serrano would have been a better substitution. Also use a good hot chile powder; I only had mild chile powder so I used more of it, which made the dressing muddy.]
Celery Victor
damn that’s elegant
Pretty much the only “fine dining” celery salad, now rather out of fashion. per Wikipedia, it was invented in 1910 by Victor Hirtzler, head chef at San Francisco's St. Francis Hotel, who is also credited with inventing Crab Louie.
I found a surprising variety of recipes, this one from chowhound.com struck me as right.
Cleaned, trimmed celery is briefly braised and cooled in chicken broth, leaving it cooked through but still crisp, with a softened flavor. It’s served with a thickly emulsified tarragon vinaigrette and a garnish of celery leaves. It is an elegant, and unexpected, first course.
Some chefs garnish with anchovy, some say that isn’t authentic and garnish with chopped hard-boiled egg, this one puts anchovy in the dressing for that extra kick. One recipe said to “chop” the celery, and even if dressed the same that isn’t the right presentation. One recipe called for chervil garnish not celery leaves, which might be authentic but is today ridiculous; chervil is an herb equivalent of what techies call “unobtanium”. I’ve never seen it for sale in a market and only rarely in a nursery.
Serves 6 to 8.
For the celery:
- 2 medium celery bunches (about 4 1/2 pounds)
- 4 cups (1 quart) homemade or low-sodium chicken broth
- 1/4 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 4 to 5 fresh Italian parsley sprigs
- 3 fresh tarragon sprigs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Remove and separate the outer stalks from the tender smaller inner stalks. Wash the outer stalks and, using a vegetable peeler, peel and discard the outer stringy layer from each stalk. Trim and cut the stalks on the bias into 6-inch lengths; set aside
Remove the leaves from the tender inner stalks (you should have about 3/4 cup). Reserve the inner stalks for another use. Rinse the leaves, place in a small bowl, cover with a damp piece of paper towel, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Place the chicken broth, onion, parsley, tarragon, and salt in a large straight-sided frying pan or Dutch oven, season with pepper, and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the celery in 2 flat layers and bring to a simmer (the liquid should just cover the celery). Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until the celery is just tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Transfer the celery to an 8-by-8-inch square heatproof dish and pour the cooking liquid through a fine-mesh strainer over the stalks. Refrigerate uncovered until the celery is chilled, about 2-1/2 hours.
For the dressing:
- 2 anchovy fillets
- 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup vegetable or grapeseed oil
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh tarragon leaves
Place the anchovies and vinegar in a blender and season with salt and pepper. Turn the blender on high, remove the small cap from the blender lid, and slowly pour in the oils. Add the tarragon and blend until combined. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper as needed; set aside until ready to serve.
To assemble:
Evenly divide the chilled celery stalks among 6 to 8 plates. Drizzle each plate with 1 to 1-1/2 tablespoons of the dressing and garnish with the reserved celery leaves.
Californians may remember the wonderful PBS TV series “California’s Gold”. This episode includes harvesting celery in Guadelupe, Santa Barbara county (that part starts at 12:00 ). Note the unique tool invented for cutting celery.
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Did you know there’s a song about celery?
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