Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [230]
¼ cup chopped pancetta OR prosciutto
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
2 cups Basic Homemade Meat Broth OR ½ cup canned beef broth diluted with 1½ cups water
An oven-to-table baking dish
1 cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
1. Cut off the celery’s leafy tops, and detach all the stalks from their base. Save the hearts for a salad or for dipping in Pinzimonio. Use a swiveling-blade peeler to pare away most of the strings, and cut the stalks into pieces about 3 inches long.
2. Bring 2 or 3 quarts of water to a rapid boil, drop in the celery, and 1 minute after the water has returned to a boil, drain them and set them aside.
3. Preheat oven to 400°.
4. Put the onion and butter in a saucepan, and turn the heat on to medium. Cook and stir the onion until it becomes translucent, then add the chopped pancetta or prosciutto. Stir to coat well, cook for 1 minute, then put in the celery, salt, and pepper, toss the celery to coat it well, and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Add the broth, adjust heat to cook at a very gentle simmer, and cover the pan. Cook until the celery feels tender when prodded. Test the celery from time to time with a fork and when you find that it is nearly done—almost tender, but slightly firm—uncover the pan, raise the heat to high, and boil away all the liquid.
6. Remove only the celery to the baking dish and arrange it with the inner, concave side of the stalks facing up. Over the celery, spoon the onion and pancetta or prosciutto mixture still in the pan, then top with grated Parmesan. Place on the uppermost rack of the preheated oven for a few minutes until the cheese melts and forms a light crust. After taking the dish out of the oven, allow it to settle for several minutes before bringing it to the table.
Ahead-of-time note The celery can be prepared up to this point several hours in advance on the same day that you will finish cooking it.
Celery and Potatoes Braised in Olive Oil and Lemon Juice
For 4 to 6 servings
5 medium potatoes
1 large bunch celery
⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1. Peel the potatoes, wash them in cold water, and cut them in half or, if large, in quarters.
2. Trim the celery stalks.
3. Choose a heavy-bottomed or enameled cast-iron pot that can subsequently contain all the ingredients, put in the celery, olive oil, salt, and enough water to cover, turn the heat on to medium, and put a lid on the pot.
4. Simmer the celery for 10 minutes, then add the potatoes, a pinch of salt, and the lemon juice, and cover the pot again. Cook until both the celery and potatoes are tender, testing them with a fork from time to time. It may take about 25 minutes. (Sometimes the celery lags behind while the potatoes are already done. Should this happen, transfer the potatoes with a slotted spoon to a warm covered dish, and continue cooking the celery until it is tender.)
5. When the celery and potatoes are both cooked, the only liquid in the pot should be oil. If there is water, uncover the pot, raise the heat, and boil it away. (If the potatoes have been taken out of the pot earlier, put them back in after the water—if there was any—has been boiled away. Cover the pot again, turn the heat down to medium, and warm up the potatoes for about 2 minutes.) Taste and correct for salt, and serve promptly.
Braised Celery Stalks with Onion, Pancetta, and Tomatoes
For 4 to 6 servings
About 2 pounds celery
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1½ cups onion sliced very thin
⅔ cup pancetta, cut into thin strips
¾ cup canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, chopped coarse, with their juice
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
1. Trim the celery stalks.
2. 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.
3. 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,