Seasonal Pantry: Rediscovering celery

It is rare to hear, “Oh, Wow! Celery!”

Few people get the sort of craving for celery that sends them to the store at an inconvenient time. Even when it is called for in a recipe, celery is frequently left out if it is not on hand. We miss celery salt if it’s left out of a Bloody Mary and leaving it out of turkey dressing is, at least to some of us, a nearly criminal offense. But otherwise, we typically see celery as rather mundane.

Yet celery is delicious, full of great nutrients and few calories - 3½ ounces of sliced raw celery, which is about a cup, has just 16 calories - and can hold its own in the center of a dish as well as it plays a supporting role. There are times when I do actually crave it, a desire I give into without hesitation. I may eat it for breakfast, dipped in plain yogurt, again at lunch with Green Valley Organics cream cheese and some fresh salsa and yet again at dinner, sautéed, perhaps, and topped with Petrale sole or leftover slow-cooked pork.

Last year, a friend who has a passion for nutritional research shared some of the information she found during her explorations. I already knew that celery’s medicinal properties had been praised since at least the ninth century and was a favorite of ancient herbalists.

Although celery fell out of favor along with other home remedies quite some time ago, today we know that this member of the large Apiaceae family contains Vitamins A, C and K, along with folate, potassium and molybdenum, a trace element essential to human health. Other compounds in celery enhance cognitive function and some studies have suggested that some of celery’s compounds seems to have a negative impact on certain cancer cells, including the cells of pancreatic cancer. Once again food, well-grown and organic, is good medicine, perhaps the best.

Celery is excellent juiced and you can now find it in natural sodas, sometimes combined with cucumber, ginger, kale or my favorite, lemon. I prefer it savory but most people like it with something sweet, including apples, pineapple and even a bit of sugar.

How to Slice, Dice, & Saute Celery

Anyone who can hold a knife can cut celery but if you put a little bit of care into it, you’ll be more pleased with the results. To begin, separate the individual ribs from the core and if there are heavy strings on the outer ribs, use a small knife to peel them away. Wash the celery and dry it on tea towels. Set a single rib, curved side down, on your work surface and cut diagonal slices about 1/8-inch thick. Continue until all the celery ribs have been sliced.

To dice celery, set a rib curved side up on your work surface and use the tip of your knife to make lengthwise cuts in the celery, creating lengths about ¼-inch wide. Gather several lengths together and cut them crosswise into ¼-inch squares.

To sauté sliced celery as a quick side dish, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a wok set over medium-high heat, add the celery, and fry, tossing continuously, until it is just tender, about 5 minutes. Add the juice of half a lemon, season with salt and pepper, remove from the heat and serve right away or use as a bed for another ingredient.

To sauté diced celery to use in dressing for poultry, in soups, or in risotto, heat 1 tablespoon of butter for each cup of diced celery in a medium sauté pan and when it is foamy, add the celery and cook over medium-low heat until it is just tender, about 10 minutes.

___

One of my favorite soups contains just six ingredients - olive oil, onion, organic dry-farmed potatoes, homemade chicken stock, kosher salt and black pepper. I like it so much that this year I served it to guests on Christmas Eve. Although it is delicious neat, it is also an excellent canvas for all manner of other foods, from Chermoula, Chimichurri and warm bacon vinaigrette to sautéed wild mushrooms, scallops or celery. It’s easy to prepare, is excellent reheated and never grows dull.

Potato Celery Soup with Celery Seed & Celery Sautéed in Brown Butter

Serves 4 to 6

3-4 tablespoons olive oil

1 small yellow onion, minced

3 celery stalks, cut into small dice

- Kosher salt

1 teaspoon celery seed, plus more for garnish

6-8 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed and cut into thin dice

4 cups homemade chicken stock or vegetable stock

4 tablespoons clarified butter

2 cups diagonally cut celery

¼ lemon

- Black pepper in a mill

Put the olive oil into a large saucepan or soup pot set over medium heat, add the onion and celery and cook until soft and tender, about 10 to 12 minutes. Do not let the vegetables brown. Season with salt and the 1 teaspoon of celery seed, add the potatoes and pour in the stock. Add enough water to completely cover the potatoes by at least 1 inch.

Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat and simmer gently until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Skim off and discard any foam that forms. When the potatoes are completely tender, remove from the heat and cool for a few minutes.

While the soup cools, put the butter into a sauté pan set over medium heat until the butter takes on a golden glow and a nut-like aroma. Reduce the heat and sauté the celery, turning several times, until it begins to soften but retains its inner crunch. Add the lemon juice, season with salt and pepper, cover and set aside.

Use an immersion blender to puree the soup thoroughly. Taste, correct for salt and pepper and thin with a little water or stock if necessary. Heat through as needed.

Ladle into soup plates, divide the sautéed celery among the servings, top with pepper.

___

This refreshing little salad is quite flexible; use whatever good root vegetables you have along with the celery and, if you like, add segments of lemon, orange or grapefruit before dressing it. You can omit the cheese if you like, use goat cheese instead of feta or top the salad with curls of Parmigiano-Reggiano or a similar cheese.

A Simple Celery Salad for Winter

Serves 4 to 6

5-6 celery stalks, cut into thin diagonal slices

1 bunch radishes, trimmed and very thinly sliced

1 small red onion, trimmed and cut into thin ribbons

1 fennel bulb, trimmed and cut into very thin slices

- Kosher salt

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more to taste

- Juice of ½ lemon or orange, plus more to taste

- Black pepper in a mill

2-3 handfuls of frisee, shredded radicchio or arugula

¼ cup pomegranate arils, optional

4-6 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

Put the celery, radishes, onion and fennel into a mixing bowl, season with salt and toss gently. Drizzle with the olive oil and citrus juice, taste and correct for salt and acid. Season with a few turns of black pepper.

Spread the frisee, radicchio or arugula over individual plates or a platter and top with the dressed vegetables. Scatter the pomegranate arils on top, if using, followed by the cheese. Grind more black pepper over everything and serve right away.

Michele Anna Jordan has written 18 books to date, including the new “More Than Meatballs.” Email Jordan at michele@saladdresser.com. You’ll find her blog, “Eat This Now,” at pantry.blogs.pressdemocrat.com.