braised celery and leeks / sedano e porri stufati

a plateful of flavor (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

The historical novel Feast of Sorrow by Crystal King, the current selection of our Cook the Books Club, was quite an interesting read. While the narrator is a slave named Thrasius, the protagonist is his owner, Marcus Gavius Apicius, who lived in the 1st century during the reign of the Emperor Tiberius and became famous for his love of food and his sumptuous dinners. Rich and ambitious, he is driven by the desire to become culinary advisor to the emperor. The pact with the devil (Sejanus) he makes exacts a high price.

The novel weaves together the lives of the individual characters with ancient Rome's life, politics and cuisine. A couple of novels I read some years ago prompted me to delve into the subject of Roman recipes for which De Re Coquinaria (a.k.a., Apicius) were the source¹. This is not the right venue for a detailed discussions of the relationship between Marcus Gavius Apicius and De Re Coquinaria. The latter is a great source and I consulted it again to find a recipe to go with our book selection.

the simple beauty of diced celery on the cutting board

Lately I have been on a celery streak: my mother used celery as part of odori (a collection of aromatics), but we never had celery salad or any dish in which celery played a leading role. Celery omelette² was the result of my first foray into celery-land. Beautiful freshly harvested celery at the farmers' market and recipe number 71 in this translation of De Re Coquinaria³ inspired a dish of braised celery and leek that has become an instant favorite with both my husband and me. My recipe, solidly savory, is quite different from the ancient one, but I owe to it the suggestion to pair one of my favorite vegetables, leeks, with one I am getting to know.

Roman recipes use garum⁴ as condiment, a fermented fish sauce, which I substitute with anchovy fillets (I would try using colatura di alici⁵ if I had access to some). While anchovies provide a distinctive nuance, besides salt, they can be omitted to make a vegan version of the dish.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Braised celery and leeks

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces / 225 g leek, white and light green portion, clean weight (set aside the dark green portion to make broth or stock)
• 3 tablespoons / 45 ml extra-virgin olive oil
• 8 ounces / 225 g celery, diced small
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1-2 anchovy fillets in olive oil (if you omit this ingredient, the dish is vegan; add fine sea salt to taste at the end)
• celery leaves, finely chopped, as topping

Cut the leek(s) in half lengthwise and slice into thin half moons. Rinse them in a colander, then place them in a bowl and fill it with cold water. With your hands, swirl the leeks to clean them well, then scoop them out of the water with a sieve or slotted spoon and drain them in a colander.

Warm up the olive oil in a cast-iron skillet or pot. Add the leeks, stir well and cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the celery and thyme leaves, stir well and cook for a couple of minutes. Sprinkle the paprika on the vegetables and stir well. Cover the skillet or pot and cook on gentle heat until the vegetables are soft, stirring every now and then. (The time it takes depends on how fresh the vegetables are.)

Cut the anchovy fillets into small pieces and add to the vegetables. Stir well to blend.

Take off the heat, sprinkle the celery leaves, give a final stir and serve warm.

Serves 3-4.  

add cooked beans and you have a complete meal
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

Besides as a side dish, the braised celery and leeks can be used as stuffing for roasted squash (for example, Delicata squash, which I particularly like because you can eat the skin as well as the flesh). 

Another way is shown in the photo above: I cooked a cup of beans⁶ (fagioli) of my favorite variety (organic Paul's mix, locally grown by Warren Creek Farms), drained them leaving about 1/4 cup / 60 ml of the cooking liquid, then added them to the vegetables 10 minutes or so before they were fully cooked, stirred well, brought the liquid to a simmer, covered and completed the cooking as per the recipe above. 

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¹ From the blog archives: carrots with cumin sauce (the post includes pointers to some ancient recipes)
² From the blog archives: celery omelette
³ Book III of Apicius (scroll down to number 71)
⁴ See a modern garum recipe on this page (which includes also a recipe for pear patina, a dessert mentioned repeatedly in the novel)
⁵ Wikipedia entry on colatura di alici 
⁶ See this post for details on how I cook beans

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Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

sedano e porri stufati

or launch the sedano e porri stufati audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

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This is my contribution to the current selection of our Cook the Books hosted by Debra of Eliot's Eats. (You can find the guidelines for participating in the event on this page.)

The roundup of the event.

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FTC disclosure: I have received the placemat free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

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celery, leek, side dish, braise, Italian cuisine

Comments

[Debra Eliotseats]

What a great a versatile dish! I could eat it as a salad, as a stuffing, as a side, or as a whole meal with those beans. Great post. Glad you enjoyed this round.

[Frank]

Looks wonderful. I've always thought that celery is the most underappreciated of vegetables. Always the bridesmaid and never the bride. Well, almost never... I've been looking for new ways to prepare it myself, and this one will definitely be on my list!

[Tina Culbertson]

I am the celery lover in the house but i think I can get my husband to try this magnificent dish. That's a great side or with the beans, a main lunch for me. Loved the book, so much food inspiration

[Claudia]

Sounds like a terrific side, which I may pair with a nice grilled steak or perhaps a roast chicken. I've been getting into more Roman dishes myself.

[Wendy]

This sounds like a wonderful dish. I love that you turned it into a main course with the addition of beans.

[Simona Carini]

Yes, Debra. Now I know what to do with the beautiful celery I see at the farmers' market. A nice read on an interesting topic: thank you for choosing it :)

[Simona Carini]

I like the comparison, Frank. As you know, in Italy you can get una costa di sedano but here you get the whole head and it's been on my wish list to find ways to use it before it wilts. Now I can't get enough of it :)

[Simona Carini]

cooked celery has a milder flavor than raw one, Tina. Try using is a squash stuffing with some cheese and nuts: so good! :)

[Simona Carini]

It is, Claudia, and made with vegetables that are available pretty much year round, which I like. The flavor of anchovies is quite mild so the dish can accompany meat. Let me know if you try it :)

[Simona Carini]

Thank you Wendy. It was rather serendipitous, like many things in the kitchen. I was making the dish, I had just cooked some beans and I thought "What if...?" It worked! :)

[Delaware Girl Eats]

Simona I'm impressed with the multiple preparations! I would try any of them. As you say, some parts of the book were difficult to get through. I am a student of culinary history, but having said that my timeframe is only the 1700's to present.

[Simona Carini]

Thank you, Cathy :)
A narrative that makes characters come alive also makes certain events feel more real (Aelia's death, the treatment of slaves or of traitors and their progeny, the latter quite brutal). The food part was quite interesting and I enjoy reading about the foods of that time.

[Delaware Girl Eats]

Simona -- I thought it was a great narrative but really liked the food descriptions