Celery

"Celery is composed of 95 per cent water, and tastes a heck of a lot better than Gatorade." Bert Greene

For its high and grateful Taste it is ever placed in the middle of the Grand Sallet, at our Great Mens Tables, and Praetor Feasts, as the Grace of the whole Board." John Evelyn

I'm writing about celery because I bought a bunch of it the other day at the market and I am beginning to wonder what to do with it - it always seems like a very difficult challenge to me for some reason. And it takes up so much room in the fridge. But it was a bargain (alas I have seen it even cheaper in the supermarket since) and it looked so beautiful - so cool and crisp and green. So I bought it and now I don't know what to do with it.

Well - that was before I went to all my favourite cooks for ideas. And now I have plenty. Interestingly Maggie Beer does not do celery, but all the others do.

I must admit that growing up I don't think we ever ate cooked celery - except as part of a soup or stew. And I do remember reading somewhere that you shouldn't freeze cooked celery as it took on a nasty taste, so I avoided it for a while. But we did eat it raw sometimes, stripped of its strings and placed in an iced glass of water to keep it crisp. Then when a bit older it was often served at parties - stuffed with cheesey things. And cheeses specially Stilton, it seems is indeed the classic pairing as shown in this piece of art I found on the net. And salt.

But I don't like cheese, and I don't eat Waldorf Salad, or drink Bloody Marys all of which are the classic ways of eating it.

My own very favourite use of celery is in the Jane Grigson's celery and lemon stuffing for turkey - though you can use it for chicken too. But there are a few things that I have been experimenting with that are also worth mentioning.

Firstly there is quiche - and this is one of my husband's favourite quiches - just celery, bacon and parsley. I guess you could also add onions or leeks, or maybe carrot too. Maybe corn. I should try it. Interestingly I just did a quick scan of the net to find a picture of a celery and bacon quiche and there just isn't one. So maybe I'm more original than I thought!

Then there's muffins, scones, fritters - all delicious - they have to have some cheese in there too and maybe some capsicum or zucchini - or bacon. I love those, but you need to have soup to go with them I think.

There are oodles of salad recipes of course - I think the only one I might try is a potato salad that also had anchovies in it - but then I'm not a real salad fan - it's a bit like rabbit food to me and requires too much chewing. And whilst on the health food kick, I guess it is a common ingredient in all those green smoothies.

There's soup of course - got to be careful to get rid of all the strings here. And stir fries - now that's a good idea and potentially lots of options - goes well with chicken and probably beef too - all different kinds of meat in fact - and soy sauce is a surprisingly good partner to celery.

The best thing to do though, if you have a lot of it, and I do, is to braise it - either on its own or with carrots, leeks and maybe bacon. The trick is long slow cooking, butter, and chicken stock until the liquid is syrupy and the celery is soft. I have done it and it is delicious, but I can't remember whose recipe it was. Elizabeth David? Robert Carrier? One of my old faithfuls anyway.

Yotam Ottolenghi has a recipe for a gratin with silver beet - that might be worth trying and last, but not least Stephanie Alexander suggests, coating the leaves in a tempura batter and frying them until crisp. An interesting, if unhealthy nibble.

Apparently it still grows wild here and there, but be careful of this, because, although it's very pretty it can be poisonous. It's related to parsley - and I guess you can see that here.