Celery, céleri, seleri
By Catherine Lee, 06 October 2012 –
This week I thought I’d focus on celery. Unless I use it in my vegetable juices, it gets put in a pot and made into soup. I have a very basic recipe, but decided to take this opportunity to look for some variations and see if I could be tempted away from simply using celery, onions and stock.
The first Cream of Celery Soup from Delia Smith uses potatoes to add thickness and leeks for extra flavour. It’s a really easy recipe and has a very creamy texture. I rarely add cream to soup so this was a bit of a treat; it was delicious but as an everyday healthy meal you could easily leave it out. The second version, from Jamie Oliver, uses parsley and nutmeg, providing a nice alternative whilst being equally easy to make.
As I polled opinion on what people generally use celery for, most people came up with crudités, soup, or stocks & béchamel sauces, so I thought it would be useful to try a dish where it featured as the main vegetable. Celery Gratin is an excellent vegetarian meal or a tasty accompaniment to roasted meat.
However, I find the simplest way to cook celery is to use it in a stir fry. Simply add to the pan over a moderate heat for 5-7 minutes, until the celery has lost its raw taste but is still crunchy.