Braised Celery With Onion Pancetta And Tomatoes Recipes

PAN-COOKED CELERY WITH TOMATOES AND PARSLEY

Steps:

• Place the celery in a steamer above 1 inch of boiling water. Cover and steam 5 minutes, until just tender when pierced with a knife. Remove from the heat and drain.
• Heat the oil over medium heat in a large, heavy skillet and add the garlic. Stir until it smells fragrant, about 30 seconds, and add the anchovy if using, tomatoes, 2 tablespoons of the parsley, a pinch of sugar and salt and pepper. Stir together, then stir in the celery. Cook, stirring often, until the tomatoes have cooked down and the mixture is fragrant, about 10 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Stir in the remaining parsley just before serving.

BRAISED CELERY WITH ONION, PANCETTA, AND TOMATOES

Steps:

• Cut off the celery's leafy tops, saving the leaves for another use, and detach all the stalks from their base. Use a peeler to pare away most of the strings, and cut the stalks into pieces about 3 inches long (cutting on a diagonal looks nice). Alternately, if you plan on cooking long past tender (an hour or more), you can skip peeling the strings. Put the oil and onion in a saute pan, and turn on the heat to medium. Cook and stir the onion until it wilts completely and becomes colored a light gold, then add the pancetta strips. After a few minutes, when the pancetta's fat loses its flat, white uncooked color and becomes translucent, add the tomatoes with their juice, the celery, salt, and pepper, and toss thoroughly to coat well. Adjust heat to cook at a steady simmer, and put a cover on the pan. After 15 minutes check the celery, cooking it until it feels tender when prodded with a fork. The longer you cook them, the softer and sweeter they will become. If while the celery is cooking, the pan juices become insufficient, replenish with 2 to 3 tablespoons of water of juice from the canned tomatoes as needed. If on the contrary, when the celery is done, the pan juices are watery, uncover, raise the heat to high, and boil the juices away rapidly.

BRAISED ONIONS WITH RED WINE, THYME, AND PANCETTA

Steps:

• Heat oven to 400 degrees.
• Heat oil in medium oven-proof skillet over medium heat. Add pancetta (or bacon) cook until crisp, about 4 minutes. Add garlic; sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add celery and carrot; sauté to soften slightly, about 2 minutes.
• Increase heat to high. Add onions; sauté until spotty brown, being careful not to burn other ingredients, about 2 minutes.
• Add wine; cook to reduce slightly, about 30 seconds. Add herbs and stock; bring to simmer.
• Cover skillet and braise vegetables in oven 10 minutes. Uncover skillet and continue to braise vegetables until onions are soft but not mushy, about 10 minutes longer. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

TOMATO-BRAISED CELERY WITH OLIVES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat oil in a straight-sided skillet over medium. Add thinly sliced onion and anchovies. Cook, stirring occasionally, 5 to 6 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute. Stir in celery, tomatoes, chicken broth, and bay leaves.
• Bring to a boil, then cover and transfer to oven. Cook, stirring once, 30 minutes. Stir in olives; return to oven and cook, uncovered, 10 to 15 minutes more. Serve.

BRAISED AND GRATINéED CELERY

Steps:

• Trim the tops of the celery and separate the stalks. Lightly peel the stalks to remove the strings. Cut the stalks into lengths of about 3 inches. Drop into 2 to 3 quarts of rapidly boiling water and, 2 minutes after the water returns to a boil, drain and set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Put the onion in a saucepan with the butter and sauté over medium heat until translucent but not browned. Add the pancetta, stir and sauté for about 1 minute. Add the celery, a light sprinkling of salt and pepper and sauté for 5 minutes, turning the celery from time to time.
• Add the broth, cover the pan and cook at a gentle simmer until the celery is tender at the pricking of a fork.
• Arrange the cooked celery in a baking dish with the inner sides of the stalks facing up. Spoon the sautéed onion and pancetta over the celery, then add the grated cheese. Place the dish on the uppermost rack of the oven and bake for 6 to 8 minutes, or until the cheese has formed a slight crust. Allow to settle for a few minutes, then serve.