Marinated Celery

November 17, 2005

I am starting to find my way around my new neighbourhood though my navigation skills are notoriously useless. I was OK when I was living in Wellington which is very hilly. No problem getting your bearings when there are plenty of landmarks on the horizon. When we lived in Christchuch, another flat city, it was not unusual for me to head to a neighbouring suburb and end up out by the airport, several kilometres off course.

The Melbourne map book, Melway, seems to be everyone's bible. Plenty of businesses advertise their Melway co-ordinates along with their street address.

The Spouse took pity on me and bought me an early Christmas present - a portable GPS navigation system which I can use in my car. While it still doesn't stop me from getting off track occasionally, it knows where I am and can put me back on the right path. Menwhile some of the landmarks are becoming familiar and I am getting used to sharing the streets with trams.

I noted nearly everyone shopping at the local market had a pull along trolley for their purchases so I purchased a nice little racing model with capacious black bag fitted on the frame to carry my shopping.

I realised it was logical to call on the fishmongers and butchers first so the heavier items could sit in the bottom. And it pays to leave the soft fruit till last.

One of the fruit and vegetabe stalls had some fine looking celery so I bought a big bunch to experiment with.

I recently read that celery contains negative calories – it takes more calories to digest stringy celery than the vegetable contains. I am not sure that you’d want to chomp through huge amounts of it in the hope of shedding a few kilos. However, celery certainly does have its attraction.

It lends crunch to a salad, is great for flavouring soup, and makes an attractive container for scooping up things like taramosalata, guacamole and baba ghanoush. It’s also a good snack for kids when filled with cottage cheese or peanut butter.

The word celery comes from the Greek selinon which means parsley. Celery is not particularly high in nutrients, though it does contain potassium. It is a diuretic. Because of its high water content, a cup of chopped celery contains less than 20 calories.

Celery can also star on its own and today’s marinated celery dish comes from Greece. It can be used as an appetiser, an accompaniment to a main meal or as part of a salad buffet. It will keep in the fridge for several days though is best brought to room temperature for serving

Marinated celery

Half a bunch of celery
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
juice and a little zest from 1 lemon
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
2 tablespoons fresh dill, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup water
flaked salt
freshly milled pepper

Clean the celery and curt the wider ends of the stalks in half lengthwise. Slice the stalks diagonally into 3cm lengths – or you can cut the celery into batons. Place in a saucepan with the other ingredients. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat and drain into a bowl, reserving the cooking liquid. Continue cooking the liquid until it reduces by about half. Pour back over the celery and allow to cool adjusting the seasoning if necessary.

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