anniemiz

Mmm Mmm Monday: Braised Celery

Today's recipe comes from the delicious cookbook, Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy: A Feast of 175 Regional Recipes, by the always delicious-making Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and her daughter, Tanya Bastianich Manuali.  I love watching Lidia cook on her tv shows.  Everything she makes -- and I mean everything, even if it's eye of newt -- looks soooo incredibly good.  She's so enthusiastic and descriptive and warm and inviting.  Kevin loves Italian food and good food of any sort; Lidia's shows nearly reduce him to drooling.  I tease Kevin that if I die or we split up, he won't go for a trophy wife, he'll weasel his way into marrying Lidia (she's 60+ years old)...for her food.  Lidia's mother, Erminia, who must be in her 80s, knows her way around a garden and a kitchen; she may not be safe, either.

Annnnyway, in the preface to this recipe, Lidia mentions how she most often sees celery used in stocks or salads.  Too true.  And I don't know what else to do with it.  This recipe came in especially handy when a large head of celery came in our oganic produce bag.  Sure, we could put it in salads and cut it up for snack sticks.  Whatever didn't get used and got wilty, plus the ends, would go in the freezer for stock. With the organic stuff, I've taken to looking up recipes to either a) try something different or b) figure out what to do with some new thing that came in the bag.  That's how I came across this recipe, by trying to find something else to do with celery.

This is actually called Celery Steamed in a skillet in the cookbook, but for some reason I keep calling it Braised Celery so that's what I call it here.  Lidia recommends you use "a heavy saucepan, such as an enameled cast-iron Dutch oven, 10" wide with a 3- to 4-quart capacity, with a cover".  This gave Kevin yet another opportunity to use his (non-enameled) cast iron Dutch oven.

Ingredients

• 2.5 lbs. celery (1 lg. or 2 med. heads)
• 1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
• 2 plump garlic cloves, crushed and peeled (Kevin probably put in more)
• 2 med. onions, thinly sliced
• 1 t. kosher salt
• 1/2 t. peperoncino flakes, or to taste (I think Kevin put in a few too many; it was a little zesty; we'd test it first next time)
• 1/2 c. pitted black olives
• 3 T. tomato paste
• 2 c. hot water

Instructions

1. Prepare the celery: Separate the stalks.  Wash and trim the stalks.  Shave tough outer ribs with a vegetable peeler or paring knife, removing thick skin and strings.  Cut stalks crosswise, including leafy parts, into 4" pieces (or smaller, if you prefer).
2. Pour the olive oil into the sauce pan, set it over medium heat, stire in the garlic and onions, and heat until sizzling.
3. Heap celery in the pan, sprinkle over it the salt and peperoncino, stire and toss, coating the celery with oil.  Cook over medium heat about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, as the celery starts cookings.
4. Stire in the olives, turn up the heat a bit, and sute the veggies about 15 minutes, tossing and stirring now and then, until the celery and onions are softened and caramelized on the edges.
5. Meanwhile, stir and blend the tomato paste in the 2c. of hot water to make a braising liquid.  When the celery is lightly browned, pour in the tomato water and bring to a boil.  Cover the pan and adjust the heat to maintain a steady, gentle perking.  Cook about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until celery is completely tender and caramelized and the liquid reduced to a glaze. 
6. Serve right away as a side dish or let it cool to room temperature.  Leftover celery will keep in the fridge for a few days and freezes well.

I didn't try freezing it, although I will next time so I can see for myself how it freezes.  I am definitely looking forward to getting more celery in our produce.  Seeing as I work at the library, I've been using the library's copy of this book, but I might have to buy a copy for myself.  I have purchased at least one copy as a gift for someone else; maybe I'll purchase another copy as a gift for me.

Friday Cat Blogging: From Aruba With Love

We recently spent a gloriously restful week in Aruba.  We'd never been there before.  Turns out that stray cats are a common sight around the hotels/resorts.  We met three friendly cats around the place where we stayed; two were exceptionally friendly.  One was this cat; we guessed her to be a young female:

We saw her a couple of times and then didn't see her for a few days until the evening before we were to leave.  We were eating at the resort's outdoor restaurant, our table near a hedge.  She came sauntering through the hedge and enjoyed some bits of our meal.  Then she jumped up on my lap and settled in for the duration of the meal.

We brought her back to the room and called Aruba Kitten Rescue (AKR; I had emailed them and another organization earlier in the week when I learned about the stray cat problem and wanted to know what, if anything, tourists could do to make these cats' lives easier).   We discussed this cat and decided that they would call the vet early the next morning to see if they could give her a rabies shot, do an exam and provide travelling papers.  AKR came to us early the next morning, whisked her to the vet, whisked her back, provided an airline approved carrier so she could sit under the seat in front of us; a harness and leash for walking her through the metal detector (she walked on a leash like a champ; thoroughly unflummoxed by all the people pointing and saying, 'There's a cat!') and wished us a safe trip.  You can read AKR's post about her here.

If you go to the website you'll see this post, where they talk about the supplies they need.  Basically, the stuff they need -- small harnesses and leashes; soft carriers; KMR -- is very expensive down there.  And it's expensive to ship stuff to them from outside of Aruba.  So they depend on people travelling to Aruba who are kind enough to bring stuff with them.  So if you're planning to go to Aruba and would like to help, contact them first to find out what their current needs are and how to best get the stuff to them once you're in Aruba.

I had ordered some tapas for dinner while she was sitting on my lap that night and one was called 'pinchitos'.  The waiter said it meant 'little bits' (they were mini skewers with one or two small pieces of meat on them) and, since she's a little bit of a thing, I started calling her Pinchita and the name stuck.

The Aruban vet estimated her to be 5-6 months old and they didn't feel any kittens inside her, but, if she was pregnant, she probably wasn't very far along.  Our vet came to see her a few days ago and left a note (at this point in our relationship with her, she just lets herself in and out) saying that Pinchita is not a kitten and that she might be pregnant.  Turns out she also has worms -- lots of them and quite the variety.  The vet gave her a first dose of dewormer when she was here, but now that she has the results of the fecal exam, she's going to give Pinchita a stronger dewormer next week when she comes by to see Dolly.  We've also seen one flea so far, so she's getting treated for that, too.

She's a tiny little thing: 4.75 lb.  How is she supposed to have kittens?  I hope she's not pregnant, but I guess we'll just deal with that if and when it's confirmed.  I wonder if/how her dewormer and flea medication might affect her kittens/pregnancy.  We've never had brand spanking new kittens in the house before; I don't know that we're prepared for this.  I don't know nothin' 'bout birthing kittens.