Celery, with its attendant fresh crispness, is an ordinary vegetable with many fans. A jar of celery sticks in the refrigerator gives weight watchers a virtuous treat. Kids love upturned celery canoes filled with peanut butter. Mid-twentieth-century cocktail parties usually featured grown-up versions piped with cream cheese or pimento cheese spread. I think the idea is trending again, with more creative fillings.
Celery has myriad uses in the kitchen. The usual aromatic group of vegetables chosen for seasoning broths, soups, and stews is a combination of celery, carrot, and onion, left in large chunks or turned into little cubes with a sharp knife. Known as mirepoix, it is a classic French pillar that every young entry-level cook learns to master.
But celery functions quite well as a soloist, too, in addition to the customary role it plays in the production of a Bloody Mary. Celery makes a beautiful salad, thinly sliced and lightly dressed in something lemony, and adorned with the chopped pale inner leaves. Such a salad may be served on its own or as part of an antipasto, or spooned over salmon steaks, for example.
Celeriac, branch celery’s cousin, also called celery root, is from a different varietal, cultivated to be all root with barely any stalk. When it emerges from the earth, gnarled and knobby, it hardly looks like dinner. A celery root cleans up real nice, though, with a scrub in warm water and a rinse. Once peeled, it must be held in an acidulated bath of water and lemon juice; otherwise it will oxidize and blacken like a peeled potato exposed to air.
Combine chopped celery root with potatoes, leeks, and onions for a stunning pureed soup with a haunting floral aroma. Or cut it into a fine julienne and indulge in the ritual of transforming it into the classic French bistro hors d’oeuvre céleri-rave rémoulade.
Celery Salad with Pistachios
Thinly sliced celery with a lemony dressing makes a crisp, refreshing cool-weather salad that won’t wilt. Use only the light green and paler green inner stalks—save the tougher outer stalks for another use. You’ll need 2 heads of celery. Cut them into long diagonal slices.
3 tablespoons lemon juice
¼ teaspoon grated or minced garlic
Salt and pepper
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
6 cups sliced celery stalks, plus a few tender inner leaves, roughly chopped
1 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
¼ cup slivered scallions
¼ cup roughly chopped toasted pistachios
Pinch of crushed red chile pepper, such as gochugaru (Korean crushed red pepper)
To make the vinaigrette, put the lemon juice and garlic in a small bowl. Add ¼ teaspoon salt and a little freshly ground black pepper. Whisk in the olive oil.
Put the sliced celery in a salad bowl. Season with salt and black pepper and dress lightly with half the vinaigrette. Add the parsley and celery leaves, and toss gently. Top with the scallions, pistachios, and red pepper and dribble over the remaining dressing. Makes 6 servings
Celery Root My Way
Céleri-rave rémoulade is a classic French salad, sold in most French charcuteries and delicatessens, rather like potato salad is here. It’s one of the best ways to enjoy celery root and not difficult at all to prepare at home. Allow time for the julienned strips to rest with the salt and lemon juice, an hour or two, or even overnight, for the best flavor and texture. It is often dressed with a mustardy mayonnaise, but my version calls for crème fraîche, mustard, and horseradish.
1½ pounds celery root
Salt and pepper
Juice of 1 large lemon
½ cup crème fraîche
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons grated horseradish
Small pinch of cayenne
1 tablespoon snipped chives
Peel the celery root’s rough craggy skin with a paring knife (it’s too tough for most vegetable peelers) and cut into matchsticks about 3 inches long. (I do this with a knife or a mandoline, but a food processor equipped with a julienne blade makes the job a bit easier.) Put the celery root in a bowl. Salt lightly, add the lemon juice, and toss well. Cover the celery root with parchment or plastic wrap, then set a plate and a heavy weight on top and refrigerate for at least an hour, or overnight.
Drain the celery root and blot with towels. Mix together the crème fraîche, mustard, and horseradish in a small bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste and the cayenne. Put the celery root in a bowl and dress liberally, then transfer to a serving bowl. Sprinkle with the chives. Makes 4 to 6 servings