Day 317: Simple Braised Celery ◄

Wow! Am I the last person on earth to cook celery? JUST celery! What I've been missing these last (ahem) 29 years!

Like everyone, I go through piles of celery. If there's onion and garlic in the pot, chances are there's celery too. And Day 247's celery & apple salad was memorable, perfect when you run across celery that still has its leaves.

But other than that? Nada.

[And nothing like being celery-outed! The other day, Tummy Treasure had four bunches of celery leftover from the wedding feast she cooked and predicted there'd be lots of celery ideas on A Veggie Venture. Oh no! Here it's been nearly 11 months of cooking a vegetable in a new way every single day -- and no celery! Thanks, Erika, if it weren't for you, this celery would be soup!]

NUTRITION NOTES ... You're gonna LOVE this. Carb Counters? Celery has only 2 grams of NetCarbs: now that's low-carb. And Weight Watchers? Zero Points. No Points. Nada Points. Got it? Eat the plate if you like.

KITCHEN TIP ... How to keep celery fresh in the frig for a good month.

NEXT TIME ... Why mess with perfection? The celery has great tooth-crunch and pepper-bite.

FROM THE ARCHIVES ... Check the Recipe Box for more low-carb vegetables and more zero-point vegetables.

SIMPLE BRAISED CELERY
Bookmark or print this recipe only
Hands-on time: 5 minutes
Time to table: 20 minutes
Serves 4


1/4 - 1/2 cup chicken stock or vegetable stock (more outing: tonight I used water with some boullion)
1 pound celery (most of a stalk)
1 tablespoon flour
Salt & pepper to taste (be generous with the pepper)

Heat the stock on MEDIUM HIGH in a skillet large enough to hold the celery in a single layer. Meanwhile, wash and trim the celery, then slice into one-inch pieces. Add the celery to the skillet and stir to wet. Sprinkle the flour and salt and pepper overtop and stir a bit til the flour is no longer visible. Reduce the heat to MEDIUM (or whatever will hold a slow simmer), cover and let cook til the celery reaches the 'crunch' you like (it will get soft if that's what you want but will take longer to cook), stirring occasionally. Serve and enjoy!

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Per Serving: 28 Cal (11% from Fat, 22% from Protein, 66% from Carb); 2 g Protein; 0 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 5 g Carb; 2 g Fiber; NetCarb3; 47 mg Calcium; 0 mg Iron; 189 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 0 points

ALANNA's TIPS
  • When you see this in the title and the Recipe Box, you know the recipe's a personal favorite. Tastes vary, of course, but the mark is one indication of another vegetable recipe that's worth paying attention to.
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT'S DUE
Adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything


(c) Copyright 2006 Kitchen Parade
Alanna Kellogg
Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

Comments

  1. I have never justed cooked celery to eat as a side dish. I can't wait to try this with leftover celery. I also can't wait to try wrapping the celery package in foil to keep it fresh longer. Anyway I want to enter to win a cookbook so here are my answers:
    1. Favorite veggie would be beets.
    2. Least favorite would be bad tomatoes...uh oh I think they are a fruit. So...maybe plain celery...boring.
    3. I've never tried rutabagas.
    4. The hardest thing about getting veggies on the table for me right now is having the right cooking pot. We are temporarily living in an apartment and I did a poor job of figuring out what pots and pans to unpack. Now some of my "essentials" are buried in a box in storage.

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  2. This is good. The whole family liked it and I'm making it for the second time.

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  3. looks great! im about to try this

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  4. just tried it and this recipe totally opened up my mind on how delicious celery can be. before this, i hated the stuff but im trying to diet so i tried this and mmmmm, amazing

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  5. Hi Anonymous - so glad you loved the celery, thanks for the reminder!

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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe, whether a current recipe or a long-ago favorite. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. ~ Alanna