A whole head of celery is a lot...

[jeral Profile]

... but I found a website headed:
"Some Things in Life Are Inevitable - Leftover Celery Is One of Them"
My spirits perked up immediately - the philosophical truism contrasting with mundane reality brought an instant grin to my face.
https://www.bonappetit.com/story/leftov ... ry-recipes

I'll never have an East Wing larder, although most recipes are do-able (if you count near enough) and some of the zingy salads are worth a look.

So, does your excess celery usually finish up in the freezer for a soup addition, or do you do more imaginative things with it other than leave it languishing in the fridge?

[Alexandria Profile]

Crudities & Bagna Cauda ..

[Joanbunting Profile]

We both absolutely love celery. In salads, as crudities, as a cooked vegetable and yes, in soup and as an essential flavour giver in stocks and stews. I do always have some in the fridge but I buy it regulaly. In the market it is common for the vegetable stall older to give customers a few stalks of celery and a handful of parsley as a gift.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Even cooking for myself I don’t find leftover celery a problem
It keeps quite well in the fridge and can be used:
Raw in salads such as Waldorf
Cooked as a veg done in a foil parcel with a tiny splash of liquid
In the basic mirepoix / sofrito for most soups and stews and many sauces
Odd bits get nibbled or used to hold a bouquet of herbs together

[Suffs Profile]

There's usually only the two of us and we get through a head of celery every week ... occasionally more ... the outside stems and the leaves are used to flavour stocks and cooking liquors for bacon joints etc, or de-stringed and used in mire-poix for casseroles, ragu, soups etc and the more tender inside stems are used in salads if they've not been eaten as a snack with cheese. The root (if there is one) is MINE .... ALL MINE!!!

[Pampy Profile]

I rarely have to ditch celery. It keeps well in the fridge and I use the Lakeland food preserver bags which keep food fresher for longer.

[Suffs Profile]

Further to my post above ... I've just started a carrot soup (on the hob as I type) with the stock from a bacon joint cooked over the weekend ... the liquor had a couple of coarse outside celery stalks and leaves in it (all strained out when I strained the stock). I softened a couple of onions and added three chopped celery stalks to the pan along with the chopped carrots then added the jellified stock ... it's all simmering ... the tender inside stalks and root of the celery were 'Chef's Perks' as I chopped ... the remaining few stalks are back in the bottom of the fridge ... they'll be used for something. within the next couple of days ... in my world 'a whole head of celery' is only just enough ...

[Joanbunting Profile]

The root end is the hens' perk. They fight over it.

Just used a few inside stalks, finely chopped in a tuna sandwich filling along with a little spring onion and cucmber. Added crunch and really good

Not , of course forgetting the good old mirepoix Sue !! Or mirry poyx as it is known in this house

[dennispc Profile]

Generally have celery in the fridge, keeps for ever, has to as OH isn't keen. Used mostly for a poxy, for soups, gravy etc and throw a chopped stalk into a stew. Try to keep leak in for the same reason.

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Celery lasts for ages in the fridge.
Blue cheese, walnuts and celery make a great team - you could add some cream and use it as a pasta e topping.
Love celery in stir-frys.
Essential in the tomato sauce I use for Pasta e Fagioli.
It´s also good for rapping people over the knuckles when they try to pinch the last piece of chocolate cake.

[dennispc Profile]

meant leek!

[Luca Profile]

In addition to the above, if I need to use up celery, I throw it into the nutribullet when making smoothies/vegetable drinks/soups.

[Wordsworth Profile]

Fill the furrow with peanut butter and it's much less virtuous.

[cherrytree Profile]

I freeze any left over limp stalks. Of course they are inedible raw, but I chop them and shove them in a freezer bag. The next time a recipe requires a stick of celery there it is. It’s perfect for a casserole or anything similar.

[Alexandria Profile]

I enjoy a snack of: a stalk or two, of celery with a smear of goat cheese Ricotta .. or Cabrales Blue Cheese or Gorgonzola or Roquefort ..

Wow, time for a Stalk !

[Joanbunting Profile]

I'm afraid I am more prosiac. I fill mine with Primula cheese spread if I have any. It's my guilty treat. If no Primula then some Petit Suisse type cream cheese or possibly peanut butter.

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Celery and peanut butter are magic! ( with a spot of chile sauce)

[MariaK Profile]

Never tried celery with peanut butter but celery with blue cheese is a perfect match - might want to try it on toast with spring onions

Slice celery postcard thin, add finely sliced Spring onion and some of the green bits.Add to lemon dressing and leave while you make the toast. Either butter the toast generously and cover with thin slices of your favourite blue cheese -or mash the blue cheese with butter or cream and spread on toast. Top with a generous layer of the the celery mix - well drained.

Salads . lemon dresssing, I find the mustardy vinaigrette used in France far too brash for these types of salad though perfect for most green salads, tomatoes ....
Sliced celery stalks aprox 50% + finely diced apple and pear (roughly equal amounts) in lemon dressing- rather good with cold ham, chicken, Boxing Day turkey etc. Can add some walnuts for crunch last minute.

Polish grated carrot salad always has a grated apple and sometimes a little grated onion for ooomph. Not traditional but I sometimes add a spoonful or two of very finely sliced celery - ideally the thinnest stalks

Celery leaves
If feeling thrifty chop these off and dry - grind to a powder for concentrated celery flavour for soups etc

[Joanbunting Profile]

mariaK wrote:

Sliced celery stalks aprox 50% + finely diced apple and pear (roughly equal amounts) in lemon dressing- rather good with cold ham, chicken, Boxing Day turkey etc. Can add some walnuts for crunch last minute.

In other words Waldorf salad - the mayo. I can't remember which comedian it was but in a sketch when a man ordered a Waldorf Salad the waiter replied that it was off the menu because they were clean out of waldorfs.

I never put a dressing on a tomato salad. When the tomatoes are ripe and tasty and straight from the sun. I simply slice or quarter them, add salt, black pepper and torn basil leaves then, at the last minute drizzle with really good olive oil.

[Pampy Profile]

Lovely ideas there, Maria!