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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. If while the celery is cooking, the pan juices become insufficient, replenish with 2 to 3 tablespoons of water 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. Serve promptly when done.

SWISS CHARD

There is no green more useful than Swiss chard for Italian cooking. Its broad, dark green leaves, whose flavor is sweeter, less emphatic than spinach, can be used in pasta dough to dye it green, or together with cheese, for the filling in a variety of stuffed pastas. The leaves are good in soup, delicious boiled and served with olive oil and lemon juice, or sautéed with olive oil and garlic. The broad, sweet-tasting stalks of mature chard are magnificent in gratin dishes, or sautéed, or fried.

Swiss Chard Stalks Gratinéed with Parmesan Cheese

For 4 servings

The broad, white stalks from 2 bunches mature Swiss chard

An oven-to-table baking dish

Butter for smearing and dotting the baking dish

Salt

⅔ cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

Note This is an excellent recipe to keep in mind if you have used chard leaves in pasta, soup, or a cooked salad. You can keep the trimmed stalks in the refrigerator for 2 or 3 days. Or, if it is the leaves that are going to be left over after doing this dish, try to use them in one of the ways cited above within 24 hours.

1. Cut the chard stalks into pieces about 4 inches long, and wash them in cold water. Bring 3 quarts water to a boil, drop in the stalks, and cook at a moderate boil until they feel tender when prodded with a fork, approximately 30 minutes, depending on the stalks. Drain and set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 400°.

3. Smear the bottom and sides of a baking dish with butter, place a layer of chard stalks on the bottom, laying them end to end, and if necessary, trimming to fit. Sprinkle lightly with salt and with grated cheese, and dot sparingly with butter. Repeat the procedure, building up layers of stalks, until you have used them all. The top layer should be sprinkled generously with Parmesan and thickly dotted with butter.

4. Bake on the uppermost rack of the preheated oven until the cheese melts and forms a light, golden crust on top. You might begin to check after 10 or 15 minutes. After taking it out of the oven, let it settle for a few minutes before bringing it to the table.

Sautéed Swiss Chard Stalks with Olive Oil, Garlic, and Parsley

For 4 servings

2½ cups Swiss chard stalks, cut into pieces 1½ inches long

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1½ teaspoons chopped garlic

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Salt

Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill

1. Wash the chard stalks in cold water. (See note about using the chard leaves.) Bring 3 quarts water to a boil, drop in the stalks, and cook at a moderate boil until they feel tender when prodded with a fork, approximately 30 minutes, depending on the stalks. Drain and set aside.

2. Put the olive oil and garlic in a saute pan, turn on the heat to medium. Cook and stir the garlic until it becomes very lightly colored, then add the boiled stalks, the parsley, salt, and pepper. Turn the heat up to medium high, tossing and turning the stalks to coat them well. Cook for about 5 minutes, then transfer the contents of the pan to a warm plate and serve at once.

Tegliata di Biete—Swiss Chard Torte with Raisins and Pine Nuts

THE TREASURES that Venice brought back from its trade and its wars with the empires of the East did not consist solely of silks and marbles, of gems and precious artifacts, but of ingredients and ways of cooking that were new to the West. Some examples, such as the fish in saor, are still part of the city’s everyday fare. But in the seldom-explored recesses of Venetian cooking are others just as wonderful, like this tasty vegetable pie of young chard, onion, pine nuts, raisins,