Braised Celery with Onion, Pancetta, and Tomatoes
This is an amazingly tasty dish. It's also very light.
2 pounds celery
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cup onions sliced very thin
2/3 cup pancetta or bacon, cut into strips (use kitchen shears)
3/4 cups canned plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped, with juice
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Detach all the celery stalks from their base. Use a peeler to pare away most of the strings, and cut the stalks into pieces (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/bacon strips.
After a few minutes, when the pancetta/bacon fat loses its flat, white uncooked color and becomes translucent, add the tomatoes with 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.
Replenish liquid with 2 to 3 tablespoons of water as needed (my celery was plenty moist, no additions needed). Or when the celery is done, if the pan juices are watery, uncover, raise the heat to high, and boil the juices away rapidly. I left enough liquid to ensure I could keep the pan deglazed.
If you choose not to peel the celery (it is quite a chore), increase cooking time until the celery is thoroughly tender.
Add garbanzos for a more robust dish.
Serve over rice, risotto, or polenta. Sprinkle with parmesan if desired.
2 pounds celery
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cup onions sliced very thin
2/3 cup pancetta or bacon, cut into strips (use kitchen shears)
3/4 cups canned plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped, with juice
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Detach all the celery stalks from their base. Use a peeler to pare away most of the strings, and cut the stalks into pieces (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/bacon strips.
After a few minutes, when the pancetta/bacon fat loses its flat, white uncooked color and becomes translucent, add the tomatoes with 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.
Replenish liquid with 2 to 3 tablespoons of water as needed (my celery was plenty moist, no additions needed). Or when the celery is done, if the pan juices are watery, uncover, raise the heat to high, and boil the juices away rapidly. I left enough liquid to ensure I could keep the pan deglazed.
If you choose not to peel the celery (it is quite a chore), increase cooking time until the celery is thoroughly tender.
Add garbanzos for a more robust dish.
Serve over rice, risotto, or polenta. Sprinkle with parmesan if desired.
