Category: Celery

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Celery (Recipe: Spicy Shrimp and Cashew Stir-Fry)

Along the lines of garlic and onions, I think of celery more as an aromatic than a vegetable. I rarely cook it on its own, but its distinctive flavor enhances French, Chinese and southern cooking. Its crunchy texture makes it a staple in egg, chicken or tuna salad.

Because of how I use celery – one stalk at a time – it becomes a regular crop in my vegetable garden. I can harvest the single stalk, leaving the remainder of the plant in the ground to continue growing. Unlike purchasing a whole head at the market – where the remainder will go limp in my crisper drawer before I have a chance to use it up.

I was working on a cookbook for Sauchuk Farm in Plympton MA for their summer CSA. His subscribers will get an incredibly diverse assortment of vegetables, including celery. The celery will keep for up to 3 weeks when stored properly (Coldest part of fridge. Leaves like to be dry in a bag. Stems like to be loose in a bag). You’d still need to use almost a stalk a day to consume it all before it goes flaccid. That creates a menu planning challenge. For that reason, I wanted to make sure I included a few recipes in his cookbook that called for copious amounts of celery.

Last summer, I made a celery Caesar salad which was quite lovely, but decided to go a different route for his book. I opted, instead, for a Chinese stir-fry – a variation of kung pao chicken that I learned at a cooking class in Beijing China. I used cashews instead of peanuts, and shrimp instead of chicken.

Spicy Shrimp, Celery and Cashew Stir-Fry
1 lb. shrimp, peeled and cleaned
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. soy sauce
1 egg white
3 scallions cut into rounds
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbs. ginger, peeled and finely minced
3 celery stalks, sliced
¾ cup roasted, salted cashews
2 tbs. plain or peanut oil

Sauce
½ tsp. salt
1 tbs. sugar
2 tbs. black vinegar or balsamic
2 tsp. shaio xing wine or sherry
2 tbs. water or chicken broth
1 tsp. corn starch
1 – 2 tsp or more chile paste (like sriracha)

In a small bowl, marinade the shrimp with ¼ tsp. salt, soy sauce and egg whites. In a separate bowl, combine all sauce ingredients.

Heat a large over high heat until very hot, about 2 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil, ginger, garlic and ½ the scallions. Let cook for 1 minute and then add the celery and cashews. Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt, and stir-fry until the celery turns jade green, about 3 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a plate.

Return the skillet to high heat. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and shrimp and stir-fry until shrimp turn pink and curl up, about 2 minutes. Return the celery and cashews to the pan and the sauce, and stir over the heat for about 1 minute to mix together evenly and blend flavors. Transfer the stir-fry to a platter and garnish with the remaining scallions.

Serve with steamed white or brown rice.

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Buffalo Shimp via Cambridge

Within 24 hours of the first snowfall, the temperatures crawled north of 32F, and the one inch blanket soon disappeared. But not without a lasting effect in the garden. I harvested what I could before it fell, but the celery, lettuces and kale remained in the ground with questionable odds of survival.

Last night I peeked at the celery. It was definitely floppy, and I didn’t expect it to recover. I harvested the remaining head, and salvaged what stalks I could.  The outer stalks were hollow, stringy and brown.  The inner stalks seemed okay.

With Maine Shrimp season just starting, I decided that Buffalo Shrimp would be the perfect foil for the celery remnants. The celery would balance nicely with the creamy shrimp, and the cool crunch would tame the heat of the spicy chili sauce.

Most recipes for buffalo shrimp call for Frank’s Hot Sauce.  I didn’t have that, and instead used  Lan Chi’s Chili Garlic Sauce with a splash of red wine vinegar. I prepared the classic bleu cheese dressing with mayonnaise, sour cream, a few crumbles of cheese and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Since Maine Shrimp are so small, I worried that the typical deep frying would make them dry and rubbery by the time the outside crisped up. I opted, instead, to dust them in corn starch and fry them in hotter-than-usual (about 425F) oil. This worked pretty well. Probably next time, though, I would use larger shrimp and a more traditional coating.

Buffalo Shrimp with Celery and Bleu Cheese Dressing
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 tbs. fresh squeezed lemon juice
 2 tbs. butter
2 tsp. Lan Chi Chili Paste with Garlic
2 tsp. red wine vinegar

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined. 
1 cup corn starch

2 cups (or more) plain oil for deep fying
celery stalks

1.  In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, sour cream and blue cheese.  Season with lemon juice.  Set aside.
2.  In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter with chili paste and vinegar.  Set aside.
3.  Heat a pot with oil over high heat.  Toss shrimp in corn starch and spank of any excess.  Gently drop the shrimp in the oil ( you may need to cook in several batches to avoid overcooking).  When shrimp are crispy, remove from oil with a slotted spoon.
4.  Toss shrimp into chili sauce.  Serve with celery and blue cheese dressing.

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The Other Pantry (Recipe: Celery Caesar)

I planted celery this summer, not because I love celery as a side vegetable or even eaten as a snack with peanut butter (I’m allergic to nuts), but because it’s a staple in so many recipes. Celery is a key component in the French “mirepoix”, the mix of aromatic vegetables that give flavor to soups, broths and stews. The Chinese also add celery to stir-fries. And I regularly use a stalk or two in chicken or tuna salad.  I always have celery in the pantry — whether it's the crisper drawer of the fridge or the garden outside.

But for all of celery’s uses, I never need more than a stalk or two at a time. With celery in the garden, I can cut off what I need without harming the plant. Instead of a buying whole head at the supermarket, and watching it wilt in the vegetable draw, I can preserve the plant through the entire summer. I bought 6 plants for about $2.50. And I still have 3 full heads.

Growing Celery
This is the third year I’ve grown celery, and by far this was the most successful. As an experiment, I planted 3 seedlings in the garden and 3 in a planter box on the deck. Neither reached “supermarket” size, but the plants on the deck were decidedly smaller and slightly anemic despite the extra sun in its location.

The celery in the garden had proper spacing… at least 18 inches between plants. They grew larger than any other year… and height-wise, they looked good. The ribs were thin with brown streaks. I attribute the brown stalks to the excess rain we had this summer. Also the celery was not in a particularly sunny spot, which probably contributed to its stunted growth.

When I harvested a plant this morning it looked like 10 small heads had sprouted from the one plant. I wonder if I should have harvested a “mini-head” at a time instead of a stalk at a time. I’ll have to experiment with that next year.

In the meantime, winter is looming. We’ve already had our first snow-fall, and who knows when we’ll get the next. I’ve become more aggressive about using celery, not just as an aromatic in cooking but as a featured ingredient.

Buried deep in my files of recipes, I found a recipe for “Celery Caesar” from Daniele Baliani, a chef I knew in Boston a long time ago…

A Very Celery Caesar… Shavings of Pecorino and Celery Dressing
adapted from Daniele Baliani

Salad
4 large stalks of celery, sliced thin
2 cups of mixed lettuce leaves – including romaine, arugula and/or mesclun mix
1 small bulb of celeriac, peeled, julienned and blanched
¼ cup grated Pecorino Romano
salt and pepper to taste

Dressing
2 stalks celery
½ bunch parsley
½ bunch basil
3 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
½ lemon, juiced
¼ cup warm water
1 tbs. fresh chopped garlic
1 tbs. Dijon mustard
6 inner hearts of celery with the leaves
2 oz. Pecorino shavings
4 slices white bread for croutons

1. Heat a large pot of water to a boil. Season with salt. While waiting for the water to boil, set aside an ice bath. When the water boils, Add from the dressing ingredient list the celery, parsley and basil. Cook for 30 seconds, remove from heat, and soak in an ice water bath to stop the cooking. Drain well.

2. To make the dressing: place the blanched celery, parsley, basil, olive oil, water garlic, mustard and lemon juice in a blender. Over medium speed, puree until smooth and bright green.

3. In a large salad bowl, combine the thin slices of celery, lettuces and julienne of celeriac. Add the grated Pecorino and toss the dressing. Adjust seasoning.

4. Cut the white bread into triangles and brush with a little oil and Pecorino and bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until crispy and nutty brown.

5. To assemble: Divide the salad onto small plates and garnish with croutons. Top it all off with dressed celery leaves and drizzle more of the green dressing for a dramatic finish