11 New Ways To Use Celery

It happens to every well-meaning cook: You're making something that requires mirepoix, which means chopped up onion, carrot, and celery to most people. Perhaps it's a basic tomato sauce, perhaps it's a hearty stew, or perhaps it's a complex Bordelaise. Whatever it is, though, the same thing happens every time — a generous bunch of celery makes it into the cart, and only a few stalks out of the bunch actually hit the pan. The rest is left to languish in the vegetable crisper until it is limp, yellow, and odorous, like the unloved vegetable it is. For shame! (Well, not really.)

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Fibrous, bland, and uninspiring, celery's claim to fame is its low caloric content, its high fiber content and consequent reputation as "filler" for dieters craving snacks between meals, and its honorary inclusion into the mirepoix club. It is hardly the stuff of a passionate cook's food fantasies. So what are you going to do with all that celery?

We came up with a few ideas of our own, but for a little help, we turned to Dan Main, author of the blog A Life in Food. Main has considerable experience cooking in France, Spain, and Italy, and he gave us some great ideas that are a bit out of the box.

Will Budiaman is the Recipe Editor at The Daily Meal. Follow him on Twitter @WillBudiaman.