You Can Do It: Hart's Fancy Anchovies with Olives, Basque Peppers, and Braised Celery
It's celery's time to shine.
Let’s hear it for celery, that stringy unsung hero. No less than one third of the holy culinary trinity AND mirepoix, celery more than holds its own. That watery crispy-juicy-fibrous mouthful of commitment, it’s like eating a billion cell walls, and I mean that in a great way.
Alexa Weibel made a compelling argument (and covered fascinating history) in this 2019 NYT piece, which I guess you could call the clarion call of celery’s comeback. At least, that’s how I read it.
vintage cel-ray sculpture from Little People Brooklyn (it’s been sold, alas)
Celery delivers big crunchy energy in tiny brunoise form to my favorite seafood salad at Dinamo, and let’s not forget Cel-Ray, the Brown’s soda of my dreams with its hard-to-pinpoint sweet celery flavor that busts through fatty meats like an effervescent hero.
I wrote about my beloved member of the Apiaceae family for Richmond Mag in March of 2019, and chef/restaurateur/Top Chef alum/goodtime gal Brittanny Anderson provided what is still one of my all-time favorite celery recipes, Braised Celery With Guanciale and Anchovy.
And let’s hold space for celery leaves, perhaps the best part of the whole plant, and they all too often get thrown away. Build a salad around them. Turn them into a headdress. Just don’t throw them out. They’re soft with a subtly verdant flavor, and, and this is not nothing, they’re damn pretty. While this was languishing in my drafts folder, in fact, Trevor Joyce posted a real jaw-dropper of a celery salad inspired by the one at Four Horsemen with medjool dates and colatura, and in the post, he cosigns using celery leaves, so there you have it.
When I saw this New Year’s app on Hart’s Brooklyn’s IG, I swore it would be mine. I’ve never been to Hart’s, but it’s bucket-listed, and one day, that whole menu will be mine. In the meantime, I braised a bunch of celery with some dry white wine and a dank-ass vegetable stock and then loaded it up with anchovies, fat cerignola olives, a bit of pickled pepper, and several glugs of my best olive oil. And reader, you can too.
I didn’t have any specifically Basque peppers, but I always have pickled banana peppers on-hand.
(A Tribute To) Hart's Fancy Anchovies with Olives, Basque Peppers, and Braised Celery
Ingredients
a pat of butter
a few stalks of celery, peeled of super-fibrous outer layer and cut in thirds or so
1/4 cup white wine
3/4 cup vegetable stock
a palmful of anchovies
4-5 big ol’ olives
a hearty pinch of pickled peppers
Olive oil, and lots of it
salt and pepper, to taste
Directions
Heat butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add celery and a pinch of salt, and sauté for a minute, until the celery begins to soften. Deglaze with white wine, and allow to simmer, uncovered, until reduced by half. Add vegetable stock and cover, cooking for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat, taste and adjust seasoning, and compose the plate. Start with braised celery and a little of the cooking liquid. Scatter anchovies, olives, and peppers on top. Douse that shit in olive oil.