Celery

 

Celery is one of those vegetables that doesn't really get my imagination going. It's a nice vegetable and pretty critical as part of a mirepoix, but on its own? I suppose this is why there are so few recipes where celery takes center stage. Italians braise it in stock for a long time and that's really good. And I have a dish I make that's beef and celery stewed together for about half an hour (I got that recipe from the back of a Campbell's soup can because what makes the dish is cream of mushroom soup). And, of course, sliced celery is very nice in creamy salads. But what else? I was wondering that when I was browsing a Gary Rhodes' cookbook and I found a very interesting cooked celery dish. It's kind of a warm Waldorf salad because it uses the classic combo of celery, apples, and walnuts. But there's no mayonnaise, just a little bit of butter for enrichment. All you have to do is wash and peel the celery (to get rid of the strings which can be hard to eat), blanch it in boiling water for three minutes, fry some cut-up apples in oil until browned, throw in the blanched and drained celery, and add the butter and walnuts. Some salt and pepper too. It's a nice, light dish. I made it a little bit more savory by garnishing the dish with some thinly sliced Pecorino cheese (best done with a vegetable peeler).

How did it taste? I'd give it a solid B.