Celery

For a while now I have been saying that celery was one of the most underated veggies in the box.  Apparently pop culture is starting to catch up with my wisdom.  I found a NY Times article from this summer that was reporting on an apparent celery craze that has drove up the price of celery (especially organic).  It all make sense now!  As an avid celery eater for many years, I was wondering why a bunch of organic celery was topping out over $4.  That's one of the many reason why I'm so excited to see celery at FreshFix.  In the past local celery has never really inspired me to do anything other than throw it in a broth, but the organic celery from Thorpe's family farm is sweet and delicious.

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Fun ways to use celery

Add it to your salad.  Pretty much any salad I make that has celery gets rave reviews.  I especially like to add it to greek salads or make a salad with tuna (canned in oil), roasted red peppers, celery, kalamata olives and any of ther salad ingredients in my produce drawer.
Let celery take center stage.  One of the best salads I ever had didn't have any lettuce and was mostly celery. Unforunately I don't have the recipe, but this celery salad recipe sounded good as well.
Drink it.  Juicing is so hot right now, but I have also been in to celery-based shrubs with a kick. In drink terms, a shrub is a concentrated syrup that combines fruit, sugar, and vinegar. Try this celery chrub recipe and add your favorite liquor.
Braise it.  Braising is a cooking technique wherein an ingredient is first browned in fat, then simmered in liquid on low heat. The prolonged cooking time in liquid allows the food to become succulent and adds depth of flavor. Try this braised celery recipe.
Soup it up.  Pureed soups are so easy to make and also look fancy.  Try this celery soup recipe then grab a baguette and add a simple salad and you are good to go.
Go traditional.  I can go weeks eating celery every day for lunch (along with other cut veggies).  I just switch up my hummus or dip and its the easiest lunch ever.  Not a hummus fan?  I didn't want to mention celery with cream cheese, but oops, I just did!