Olive-Oil braised Celery with Potatoes and Carrots

 

With the holidays approaching, it is never the bird, the cranberries, or even the stuffing (roast in the bird or out?) that gives me pause. It’s not the sides, or whether or not to prepare brussels sprouts, which invariably go uneaten.

Friends, it’s the celery.

(We’re just talking food. Not relatives. Or politics. Or anything else that might stir things up. My life is hard enough, and I’ll venture yours is, too.)

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We are rapidly hurtling into the season where celery is necessary. I speak as somebody who tried avoiding it for years. Not because I dislike it, but because whenever I bought it, I invariably used four sticks and tossed the rest. But going without meant my grandmother’s stuffing was missing something. It wasn’t huge, but it was there, a missing back note.

It never once occurred to me to cook celery: this may be why I remain an unknown blogger instead of a famous one. But having realized celery may be cooked, I am sharing my newfound knowlege so you, too, may guiltlessly buy a huge head of the stuff, make your stuffing, and braise the remainder.

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Before entering the kitchen, I confess that while cooking celery is news to me, it’s hardly a culinary sensation. Leaf through a random selection of older cookbooks–by “older,” think late 1960’s through the mid-80’s–and celery recipes abound. Why the vegetable went out of style, becoming more ingredient than centerpiece, is beyond the scope of this humble blog.*

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Today’s recipe comes courtesy Marcella Hazan’s The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. I have tweaked the recipe a bit, but all the credit goes to her.

Olive-oil braised celery with potatoes and carrots is everything you want in a holiday dish, and then some. It’s naturally vegan, may be prepared well ahead of time, and is delicious at any temperature. Were these virtues insufficient, the dish holds well and makes a good buffet selection. (Just don’t leave it out all day and give people food poisoning.)

Into the kitchen.

Older cookbooks often instruct readers to de-string celery. I rarely find celery needs this, but mine did require judicious trimming, (see above) which I carried out with a vegetable parer.

Hazan begins cooking the celery before the potatoes, rightly saying celery takes longer to cook. Being lazier, I threw everything into the pot at once.

Olive-oil braised celery with potatoes and carrots takes 15-25 minutes to cook; much depends on the vegetables. Once they’re tender, you will be left with a potful of liquid. Hazan instructs readers to remove the vegetables, then boil the water off, leaving only the olive oil. I am not about to argue with Marcella Hazan, but I froze the cooking liquid, reasoning it would make an excellent vegetable cooking medium. Do as you wish.

The carrot and garlic are my additions; feel free to omit them.

We ate olive-oil braised celery with chicken, but it’s the kind of vegetable dish that goes with everything. Olive-oil braised celery also makes a nice light meal with a green salad and bread.

See recipe, below, for a few ways with leftovers.

A final note: I know this is very late for Thanksgiving. I had intended to post this last Wednesday, but after several days of illness, my husband experienced a recurrence of diverticulosis and spent a night in the hospital. He was discharged yesterday, and is now on the mend.

I realize posting has been erratic lately. I’m sorry for that.

Americans–have a good holiday. Everyone else, I hope you find this recipe useful.