Celery is the stem of a plant, which develops in the stalks. Once the stalks become mature, they are sold individually, but if they are very young, many of them are joined together and traded in a bunch. The celery grows in the fall and remains till early spring. It is also available in the summer, but as it out of season, the charge is usually high and the quality very low.
Celery can be used for a relish. However, celery is mainly used for flavoring soups and preparing salads, pickles, and several other dishes. It is used less often as a cooked vegetable than it is for seasoning other dishes. When it is brought in its season, you will get it at a reasonable price. It can be cooked to provide variety to the diet. The value of celery as food is extremely low. However, in spite of these verities, celery is important for its mineral salts and bulk. Celery is also used for the delicious taste that it provides to a variety of foods and to the feasts at which it is served. Let’s have on the recipe of how to cook celery in various ways.
Creamed celery:
The standard way of cooking celery is that you should mix some cream in it while serving the cooked celery. The cream sauce that is mixed to the celery enhances its food value significantly and greatly improves its taste. This sauce can be prepared of whole milk or of half milk and half water with the celery.
Ingredients:
- 2 c. diced celery
- 3 Tb. butter
- 4 Tb. flour
- 2 tsp. salt
- Dash of pepper
- 2 c. milk
- 1 c. water in which celery was cooked
Procedure:
- Cook the celery in boiling salted water until it becomes warm, and then removes all the water from celery. Once the celery is cooked, prepare a white sauce with the help of other ingredients. Spread this sauce on the top of the cooked celery. Heat together and serve hot.
- Celery AU Gratin: The food value of celery can be increased further by adding some cheese and bread crumbs to celery. The dish, which is termed as celery au gratin, is cooked according to the following recipe.
Ingredients:
- 5 c. diced celery
- 3-1/2 Tb. butter
- 3-1/2 Tb. flour
- 1 tsp. salt
- Dash of pepper
- 2 c. milk
- 2 c. water in which celery was cooked
- 2 c. buttered crumbs
- 1 c. grated cheese
Procedure:
- Cook the celery in boiling salted water until it becomes warm and then draw off the water. Make cream sauce in the standard manner. Butter the crumbs by mixing them with 2tbsp full of melted butter. Add 1/6 cupful of the crumbs in the base of a baking dish and add one-half of the celery over them.
- Put one more 1/6 cupful of the crumbs on the celery, and on the surface of this sprinkle 1/6 cupful of the grated cheese. Add the leftovers of the celery and spread the sauce over this. Finally, put the other 1/6 cupful of cheese and the leftovers of the crumbs. Put it in a hot oven, and cook until it is well cooked and the crumbs turn brown. Serve it hot.
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