Oye. I’ve got nothing tonight.
Well, if you have leftover tomatoes, capers, and olives from making puttanesca or you’ve been spending a few days eating buttery quiche and need something lighter for supper, this is a good recipe. I was skeptical of the idea of braising celery, but this is tasty. I recommend serving this dish with grilled bread to sop up the broth and make it more of a meal.
Oven-Braised Celery
from How to Cook Everything (for the iPhone!)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs celery, trimmed
2 T minced onion
1 T drained capers
1/2 c pitted and chopped olives
1 c seeded and chopped tomato (fresh or drained canned)
2 T olive oil
1 c vegetable stock
Chopped herbs for garnish
salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 375F. Cut the celery into 2-inch long pieces and heat a deep, oven-proof skillet or flameproof gratin dish over medium heat. If you don’t have either, just use a deep skillet to prep the vegetables and poor them into a baking dish for the braising part.
Saute the celery and the onions for about 2 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and add the stock. Bring to a boil and put in the oven (or transfer to a baking dish). Cook until the celery is tender. Mark Bittman says it should take about 15 minutes, but I’ve found that his cook times are generally too low for my oven. It actually took more like 30 minutes for the celery to get tender.
During the last 5 minutes of cooking, stir in the capers, tomatoes, and olives. Garnish with chopped herbs and serve.
Also good for a semi-detox…