What to do with celery

Stephen_Leak

Another vote for freezing. It's often cheaper to buy a complete head than trimmed sticks, and you wouldn't use all of it for a batch of soup. Carrot, onion & celery is known as the "Holy Trinity" for soup bases.

You can freeze it. Some sources say to blanch it in boiling water first, others say not to bother and some just don't mention it. Then chop it up, divide it into suitable portions (ie. how much you've just used for a batch of soup) and then freeze it in water. The ice crystals inside the celery are balanced by the ice outside. It's a bit soft when defrosted, but isn't mush.

PS. Celery sticks with Swedish cod roe squeezed (It comes in a tube, like Primula cheese. Not straight from the fish!) down the middle. And a shot of Swedish vodka. Børk! Børk! Børk!

anguk

Stephen_Leak wrote: »

Another vote for freezing. It's often cheaper to buy a complete head, even though you only need a little for a batch of soup. Carrot, onion & celery is known as the "Holy Trinity" for soup bases.

I finely chop carrot, onion and celery in the food processor to stick in the freezer and it goes in just about every soup, stew and tomato based sauce I make.

Kiwisaver_2

I usually double dose on the celery I do some really finely chopped which I will fry off with the onion at the start of the dish, so it just ends up dissolving into the soup, sauce or gravy. I then some more chunky identifiable pieces depending on what the meal is; a smallish dice to match up with mince based dishes or larger bits for a long cooked stew.

meritaten

I love celery - but my OH hates it! so when I buy a head - the leafy bits at the top go into green salad (funny thing is my OH never complains the salad tastes of celery). the outer tougher stalks get chopped up to go in the freezer to add to soups, casseroles and stocks. the tender inner stalks I use in either a celery, nut and mayo salad for myself, or I, er, I dont know how to confess this............I cut them into large chunks and dip them in marmite and just munch on them!!!!!!!!!!
(my OH hates marmite too so I have to do this when he isnt in!)

angelavdavis

Not everyone's favourite ingredient, but I have grown celery for the first time on the allotment and planted up 40 seedlings thinking I would lose half of them, but now have over 30 almost 3 foot high celery heads!

I was going to chop, tray freeze and add them to blanched carrots, onion, swede and turnip for stew mix but am at a loss what else to do with them (short of feeding them to my nephew's guinea pigs).

Do any Old-Stylers have any freezable recipes which include celery that they recommend please?

JulieGeorgiana

I think Celery is 'the devil' and my Rabbits both agree with me!

On a more serious note, could you make a Celery Soup??? I suppose some people would like that?

flutterbyuk25

I adore celery soup I've just made some tonight:

1 x whole celery
1 x onion
2 x potatos
1litre veg stock
sprinkle of dill
- chuck it all in a pan and it'll be done in 20mins. I blend mine cos I prefer smooth soups. It's freezable.

HTH

x

ps, you could always give some away on freecycle etc

mi_jardin

I always add a bit to a spag bog, finely chopped.

oldtractor

today we had a casserole made up of a tin of red kidney beans tin chickpeas,tin tomatoes,sweetcen celery and onion witha few lentils a bit of water a veg stock cube garlic and a few herbs. delish.

jpscloud

Another vote for celery soup - my parents made it when I was a teenager after they did much the same thing and grew too much celery! It was the best soup I've ever tasted.

Blanched celery freezes fine for later use in soups and stews.