2B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2019
HOME & LIVING
Uncelebrated celery deserves more respect
By Daniel Neman
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Celery isn’t sexy.
I get that. Not many people,
when asked “What would
you like for dinner?” respond
“I don’t care, as long as it has
celery.”
But maybe that should
change. Celery is a vegetable
whose time has come. It is
more — far more — than a
mere garnish for a bloody
mary or a convenient convey-
ance for hummus.
As it happens, this is the
time of year that celery is at
its absolute best, tender and
sweet. It is just begging to be
used in vibrant and exciting
ways. And I don’t mean stuff-
ing it with peanut butter.
Not that there is anything
wrong with celery with peanut
butter. I think we can all agree
that celery with peanut butter
is the best possible way to eat
celery, and maybe peanut but-
ter. It is culinary perfection.
But it is my happy duty to
look for other applications of
celery that are (nearly) just as
stunning, and I found some
truly great ones.
Take, for instance, Celery,
Blue Cheese and Hazelnut
Salad. Already, that sounds
better than an ordinary celery
dish, right?
It gets better: The hazelnuts
are toasted and then glazed
with butter, maple syrup and
just a pinch of heat from cay-
enne pepper. Chopped dates
— or dried cranberries or
cherries — add a pop of chewy
sweetness, and the dressing is
a simple mixture of olive oil,
lemon zest and lemon juice.
Next, I used celery to make
a dish that I hadn’t had in so
long I had completely forgot-
ten about it: cream of celery
soup.
Why has this extraordinary
dish fallen out of favor? Celery
goes with stock and cream
every bit as well as mush-
rooms do. A bit of potato adds
depth to the mix, and an onion
brings the fl avor into focus.
Celery is braised in many
parts of the world, and it is
high time we did it more here,
too. Celery that is braised still
CACTI
tastes like celery, but its sharp
edges have been smoothed
over; it has a warmer and
deeper fl avor.
It is also almost impossibly
easy to make, though it takes
a little longer (15 minutes)
than you might expect. All you
have to do is saute celery in
butter with salt and pepper
for about fi ve minutes, until it
starts to become tender. Then
you let it simmer in a small
amount of beef broth until the
broth becomes like a glaze.
Although it is inspired by
Asian cooking, celery stir-fry
is also universal in its appeal.
And it is actually easier to
make than the braised celery.
All you have to do is stir-fry
julienned celery with a little
bit of crushed red pepper
and soy sauce. A few drops of
sesame oil when you’re done
only make it better.
I made one last dish, a drink
that is a favorite at New York
delicatessens: celery soda.
I had never actually had cel-
ery soda before. I’d had two re-
sponses to the idea every time
I saw it at the deli — “ick” and
“why?” But I knew that it was
hugely popular, especially as
an accompaniment to corned
beef sandwiches, or pastrami.
Now that I’ve made it, I
totally get the appeal. Celery
soda is light, surprisingly mild
and wonderfully refreshing. It
would be great not only with
heavy and fatty meats such
as corned beef, it would also
be an excellent choice for basi-
cally any sandwich.
1 teaspoon lemon zest
¼ cup lemon juice
Black pepper
Handful of dried cherries, dried
cranberries or chopped dates
CELERY, BLUE
CHEESE AND
HAZELNUT SALAD
CREAM OF CELERY
SOUP
Yield: 4 to 8 servings
6 ounces good-quality
blue cheese
¾ cup hazelnuts
2 to 3 heads celery,
tops removed
1 tablespoon butter
Pinch cayenne pepper
Salt
3 tablespoons maple syrup
¼ cup olive oil (or hazelnut
oil, if you have it)
1. Allow cheese to come to
room temperature. Meanwhile,
roast hazelnuts on a rimmed
baking sheet in a 300-degree
oven for 30 minutes.
2. While the hazelnuts are
roasting, use a vegetable
peeler to peel away the tough
outer strings of the celery. Slice
the celery ribs on the diagonal
into ¼-inch thick slices.
3. Remove hazelnuts from
oven and let cool a few min-
utes. Rub together in a clean
dish towel to remove as much
of the dark outer skin as you
can.
4. Melt butter in a small skil-
let; add pinch of cayenne and
salt. Add the roasted hazelnuts
to the pan and cook on low
heat for a few minutes, stirring
constantly. Remove from heat
and stir in the maple syrup.
Leave in pan to cool.
5. In a small jar, mix together
the olive oil, lemon zest and
lemon juice. Add salt and
black pepper to taste. Shake to
combine.
6. To assemble, layer a shal-
low platter or dish fi rst with
the sliced celery, then cherries,
then crumble the blue cheese
over it and sprinkle with glazed
hazelnuts (you may have to
use a wooden spoon to scrape
them out of the pan). Just
before serving, pour dressing
over top.
Yield: 6 servings
1 head celery, ribs chopped,
leaves reserved
1 large waxy potato, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter
Kosher salt
3 cups chicken broth
Scant ¼ cup fresh dill
½ cup heavy cream
Olive oil for serving
Continued from Page 1B
ing in September. There are
many varieties in shades of
red and pink.
Thanksgiving cactus —
S. truncuta. Zygocactus
truncata
Also known as crab cactus,
its joints are 1 to 2 inches
long and sharply toothed with
two large teeth at the end
of the last joint. Short-tubed
scarlet fl owers have pointed,
spreading petals. It blooms
from November to March.
Easter cactus —
Schlumbergera gaertneri.
Rhipsalidopsis gertneria
Much like Christmas cac-
tus, with the same drooping
stems, but more upright, with
more rounded stem joints.
Bright red fl owers to 3 inches
long are upright or horizontal
rather than drooping. Blooms
April to May, often develop-
To furnish sunlight for
indoor plants, use full spec-
trum lightbulbs or fl uorescent
tubes. Many plants seem to
do well in artifi cial light of
this type.
If you have garden ques-
tions or comments, please
write: greengardencolumn@
Yahoo.com. Thanks for read-
ing!
advertised in stores, arrives I
seek to be ready with my own
living room transformation
Continued from Page 1B
Now Thanksgiving is on our for Christmas, the highlight of
the year.
calendar for family dinners
The red and white skeins of
and happy greetings for those
who are so well-placed, some yarn unwind and transform
from their cozy nests into a
with just memories to enter-
granny square afghan for the
tain the soul.
daveno. The weaving of the
And, here amid all of the
effort nimbles the fi ngers and
various occasions gathered
together like a garden of culti- fi lls another portion of one’s
vated vegetables and fruits, I memory to be gathered in
sit now and then with crochet later.
How quickly the years
hook and yarn in hand trying
to beat the calendar clock now seem to fl ow by while we are
involved in several occasions
set for regular rather than
Daylight Saving Time with yet at one time and then wonder
why it is so when long ago
another special day in mind.
they took their own special
When the month of
place and savor, now just
December, already so widely
marking time to a faster beat.
And, while we try to hang
back with the changing colors
of all leaves and scattered
among our many activities in
hopes they last longer to enjoy
for their own importance,
another visitor threatens
to engage our time to jump
quickly from one to another in
time and space.
The New Year of 2020 ap-
proaches on the wing. Happy
New Year since it’s almost
gone by.
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BRAISED CELERY
Yield: 4 servings
8 ribs of celery, rinsed
and trimmed, leaves
chopped and reserved
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Pinch kosher salt
Pinch freshly ground
black pepper
½ cup good quality beef
stock or broth
1. Peel any of the fi brous
outer stalks of celery with a
vegetable peeler and slice into
1-inch pieces on the bias.
2. Heat the butter in a 10-
inch saute pan over medium
heat. Once melted, add the
celery, salt and pepper and
cook for 5 minutes until just
beginning to soften slightly.
3. Add the beef broth and
stir to combine. Cover and
reduce the heat to low. Cook
until the celery is tender but
not mushy, approximately 5
minutes. Uncover and allow
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Combine celery, potato,
onion and butter in a large
There are many varieties in
white, pink, salmon, orange
and apricot.
DORY
saucepan over medium heat;
the celery to continue to cook duced to a glaze. Transfer to a
season with salt. Cook, stirring for an additional 5 minutes or serving dish and garnish with
frequently, until onion is ten-
until the liquid has been re-
the reserved leaves.
der, 8 to 10 minutes. Add broth;
simmer until potatoes are
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tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Puree
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in a blender with dill. Strain.
Stir in cream. To serve, top with
reserved celery leaves and a
light drizzle of oil.
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