Silver Linings

I don’t know how many heat waves we’ve already had here in Philly this year, but I will say that it is flat out too many.  Since my arrival from the great white north, I have been sitting here on my couch - or more likely camp chair propped low on my wood floor - sweating my ass off.  If my ass were really disappearing I might find some benefit to the heat, but alas, it is just a metaphor and I’m just sweaty.  Last night around 10:30 I huffed a big sigh, got my tent out, and set it up in the back yard.  Sleeping with the crickets and J-sweeping fireflies was a whole lot more appealing than sleeping in my stuffy bedroom.  By morning, I needed a blanket.  Brilliant!  (I’m still patting myself on the back for that one).  Nothing like a change of scenery to breeze out the cobwebs because, I must say, the re-entry into Philly weather was quite harsh this time around.  I went from needing 2 wool blankets to sweating to death.  Not good.  Praise to the tent.

The heat, happy me, is breaking, and for some reason, I’ve been in the mood for celery.  Tonight was the night for both.   In the case of celery, it was the power of suggestion… I was listening to Molly Wizenberg’s (with Matthew Amster-Burton – sorry Matthew – Molly gets first cred with me) podcast Spilled Milk during one of my last trips and she was talking about braising (admittedly, it was an old one…  my podcast world revolves around plane-trips or road-trips as a rule).  The idea of braised celery stuck in my brain.  I stopped by the grocery store this evening after work and got fixin’s for both braised celery and home-made ice cream.  An interesting combination, I know, but rest assured, I did not eat them both at the same time.  To get things rolling, I started my kitchen time with a blueberry mojito in hand - fresh with Jersey blueberries and mint from my garden.  My chicken-grilling ushered in a blast of wind and about 5 big drops of rain.  Clouds parted, dinner was eaten, fresh strawberry ice cream was made (makes for a much nicer picture than the braised celery) and the gibbous moon plays hide and seek illuminating the silver lining of the bank of clouds.  All told, a damn fine evening.

Here is my version of

Braised Celery

I highly recommend a revisit to this veg. – something really great about rediscovering an ingredient you hardly ever think about.  Celery for me means stuffing, and stir fries, and the holy trinity, and mirepoix.  A side dish on its own?  Anathema no more.  Zip zip comfort food on the plate in minutes.

7 stalks of celery cut into 1 inch lengths

½ Vidalia onion (or other sweet onion) rough chopped

1 Tbsp. butter

½ C chicken stock

Sauté celery and onions for about 5 minutes in the butter (medium heat so the butter doesn’t burn – you can use olive oil, but it changes everything…  even the chemistry of the veggies… so you may have to cook longer and add a bit of salt if you go with oil).  Add the chicken stock and cover, simmering veggies for about 10 minutes.  The liquid will most likely be mostly gone by the end of 10 minutes, but if not, pull off the lid and reduce until the liquid becomes a glaze and maybe take it a little further so as to caramelize the celery onion combo just a smidge.  Tonight, I didn’t even have to add any salt, but give it a taste and salt if needed.

I served it on a bed of mixed greens with herb-marinated grilled chicken and it was great.  I found myself really wishing I had a grilled peach with the whole meal, though.  Can be a great side-dish for all kinds of bold tasting mains.  I have not done it yet, but imagine some chopped fennel would be a great addition to the celery and onions.  Yum.  Go crazy.