Among superlatives and generalizations, celery must be the most indispensable, widely used and yet simultaneously underappreciated vegetable in contemporary cooking.
Why? Perhaps because the celery we have access to year-round, while serving most purposes adequately, is boring. Crunchy, but sometimes watery; sometimes sweet, often bland.
I suspect that most cooks use celery only where it would feel remiss to proceed without it — egg salad, gumbo — and that’s why it seems particularly prone to languish in the backs of refrigerator crispers. It’s not a vegetable we typically buy with enthusiasm or plan meals around.
What I love about in-season celery is that it can shift that ambivalence, albeit temporarily. With its lucid green stems, shocks of fragrant leaves and rich, surprisingly complex flavor, seasonal celery offers the moxie of a main-ingredient vegetable. And the time to buy it, at farmers markets, is now.
Seasonal celery owes part of its depth of flavor to bitterness, which, in many of our modern cultivars, has dwindled to a meek astringency. That bite, however subdued, is what enables the balance in a sweetly aromatic dish of tarragon-roasted celery, featured in chef-author Jennifer McLagan’s “Bitter” (Ten Speed Press, 2014). It sharpens the edge in a passive butter lettuce salad and, McLagan notes, anchors the richness of a beef stew.
In-season celery accomplishes the same thing, but with greater presence. Consider a celery risotto, a stir-fry of celery and mushrooms or a braise of celery, scented with tomato and orange.
It also offers more leaves, which yield such returns on flavor and aroma that all efforts should be made to use or preserve them.
“The main thing is the leaves,” said McLagan. “Everyone usually just throws them away, but they’re wonderful to use. They have a hint of bitterness, and they help to change up texture and color.”
You’ll do well treating them as an herb, as generously and often as you might use parsley and cilantro, although how generous you are in the dosing might depend on your palate and the preparation. Raw celery leaves can be somewhat astringent and rough, but their brusqueness softens in the heat of a soup, where fistfuls are appropriate, and adds nuance to otherwise mild-toned salads of leafy greens, where a handful will do. In a roasting pan they turn shatteringly crisp in minutes. (Add them to a pan of potatoes or other vegetables in the last minutes of cooking.)
Despite celery’s usual role as an all-purpose aromatic, in fuller-flavored guises it betrays a real affinity for a few particular ingredients. You can’t do much better than potatoes as a partner ingredient for good celery.
Emmer, Lentil and Celery Salad With Lemon-Cumin Dressing
4 servings (makes about 6 cups)
The lentils can be omitted or swapped for cooked chickpeas or white beans. Emmer, a type of farro sometimes called farro medio, is an heirloom hulled wheat grain that makes a whole protein when combined with lentils. It is sold at natural/organic food stores. From food writer Emily C. Horton.
1 cup whole emmer (may substitute wheat berries)
¾ cup dried green French du Puy lentils or brown Spanish Pardina lentils
2 cups diced celery ribs
1 poblano pepper, stemmed, seeded, diced
¼ cup finely diced onion
⅔ cup chopped parsley
1½ teaspoons sea salt
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin seed, toasted, then ground (see NOTE)
1 large clove garlic, pounded into a paste or minced
1 to 2 teaspoons Aleppo pepper or Marash red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon unhulled sesame seeds, toasted (see NOTE)
One 4-ounce block homemade or good-quality feta cheese (optional)
Place the emmer in a medium, heavy pot. Cover with water by 2 inches; bring to just below a boil over medium heat; partially cover and cook for 35 to 45 minutes, until the emmer is tender but still chewy. (Wheat berries might cook for 50 to 60 minutes before becoming tender.) Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Drain completely; once the emmer is completely dry, transfer to a large bowl.
Place the lentils in a medium, heavy pot. Cover with water by 2 inches; bring to just below a boil over medium heat, then partially cover and cook over medium heat, until the lentils are barely tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and allow the lentils to cool in their cooking liquid. Drain thoroughly, then transfer them to the bowl with the emmer, along with the celery, poblano pepper, onion and parsley.
Combine salt and lemon juice in a small bowl, stirring until the salt has dissolved. Whisk in the oil until emulsified, then add cumin, the garlic and red pepper flakes to form a dressing. Pour over emmer mixture in the large bowl, tossing until coated. Add half of the toasted sesame seeds, then toss the salad again. Garnish with the remaining sesame seeds.
Divide among individual plates; crumble 1 ounce of feta cheese, if using, over each portion. Serve right away.
NOTES: Toast the cumin seed in a small, dry skillet over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, until fragrant and lightly browned. Cool completely, then grind into a coarse powder in a dedicated spice grinder.
Toast the sesame seeds in small, dry skillet over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes, shaking the pan as needed to avoid scorching, until fragrant and lightly browned. Cool completely before using.
Per serving: 510 calories, 11 g protein, 63 g carbohydrates, 22 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 850 mg sodium, 20 g dietary fiber, 2 g sugar
Celery Leaf, Parsley and Pistachio Pesto
4 servings (makes ½ cup)
In this cool-weather pesto, parsley tempers the fragrant intensity of celery leaves, and toasted pistachios lend a sweet, nutty counterpoint. MAKE AHEAD: Without the optional cheese, the pesto can be refrigerated for 2 days. Cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface; stir in the cheese, if using, just before serving. From food writer Emily C. Horton.
1 cup packed flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 cup packed celery leaves
2 cloves garlic
¼ to ½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon shelled, unsalted pistachios, toasted and coarsely chopped (see NOTE)
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
¼ ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano cheese, finely grated (optional)
Chop the parsley and the celery leaves.
Use a mortar and pestle to pound the garlic with ¼ teaspoon of the salt to form a smooth paste.
(Alternately, use the flat side of a chef’s knife to crush the garlic, then mince it with the salt until extremely fine.)
Use a large mortar and pestle or a food processor to reduce the pistachios to fine crumbs.
If using a mortar and pestle, add the parsley and celery leaves to the garlic and pistachios a bit at a time, pounding well after each addition, until they break down to a coarse paste, scraping around the bowl occasionally to incorporate. If using a food processor, add the leaves to the pistachios all at once, along with the garlic; pulse until broken down to a coarse paste, about 1 minute, stopping once to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add the oil in a slow stream, stirring or pulsing until fully blended. Scrape the pesto into a medium bowl. If serving right away, stir in the cheese, if using. If you’re not adding the cheese, taste the pesto and add some or all of the remaining salt, as needed. If you’re refrigerating the pesto, cover with plastic wrap pressed directly onto the surface. If you’re adding the cheese, do so right before serving.
NOTE: Toast pistachios on a baking sheet, spread in a single layer, in a 400 degree oven for 4 to 5 minutes, shaking them once so they brown evenly. Cool completely before using.
Per serving: 190 calories, 3 g protein, 5 g carbohydrates, 19 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 190 mg sodium, 2 g dietary fiber, 1 g sugar
Potato and Celery Soup
4 servings (makes about 6 cups)
One bunch of locally grown celery — which should yield the most flavor — should yield several cups of leaves. If you don’t have access to locally grown celery, try using Chinese celery instead. Cooked beans are a nice main-dish addition. MAKE AHEAD: The soup can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. From food writer Emily C. Horton.
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1½ teaspoons sea salt
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup diced celery ribs, plus 2 cups loosely packed celery leaves
1½ pounds yellow potatoes, such as Yellow Finn or Yukon Gold, cut into ¾-inch pieces
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or more as needed
4 cups water
Heat a large, heavy soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the oil and warm for a minute. Add the onion and ½ teaspoon of the salt; cook for 7 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until translucent. Add the garlic and the diced celery; cook for 2 minutes, then add the potatoes, the remaining teaspoon of salt and the ½ teaspoon of pepper, stirring to incorporate. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep the potatoes from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
Add the water; once it comes almost to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 20 to 25 minutes or just until the potatoes have begun to break down and thicken the soup but are still holding their shape. Stir in the celery leaves; cook for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat.
Cover and let the soup rest for 5 minutes before serving; taste, and add pepper as needed.
Per serving: 240 calories, 4 g protein, 37 g carbohydrates, 10 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 830 mg sodium, 5 g dietary fiber, 4 g sugar
