I saw a recipe for Saffron Braised Celery and knew that I had to make it. Hugh....your in trouble though...I am making so much fricken food I cant even eat it all!!! Don't get me wrong, I loved the dishes I have made thus far but usually what I do is make a dish and have it for lunch Monday-Friday or dinners for the week. Your recipes make me so curious that I am finding myself making more than I originally thought I would. My initial plan was to make a dish twice a week. I am on a roll so I am just goin with it ;)
Your in luck though! I have decided that I would share the dishes if I know in advance that I will be making more food and cant possibly eat it all. I will document the comments from the ones that par-take and post them here. That way, my readers get a idea of what it is like AND you get more input ;)
I'm awesome....I know.
Ok guys and gals. This is a great post because your getting a two for one! Something else that I have decided is if there is a way that I can incorporate TWO recipes that have the same items or close I will let you in on the one that I made. This is of course not going to happen every time that I make one of chef Acheson's creations but I will do my best...I am kind of overloading my plate right now (in more ways than one) with cooking all this awesomeness, working, training and breaking shit around my house. I will get into it later but the laptop is on it's way out...I guess a new camera and laptop will be bought this weekend (maybe). Anyway. Enough of that. Lets get to it, shall we.
I saw this recipe for Saffron Braised Celery and honey....it was already made in my mind. So simple and soooo good. I had it alone. Gasp! I know. I should have had it with maybe some chicken and rice but I loved it all by it's self. I did go a little crazy buying celery though so here is when the two for one comes in. First though....Mr.Acheson....Your celery sir.
Get the most GREEN celery you can find...
Get the most GREEN celery you can find...
Braise it! 
oooohhhhh lala! I had to add some parsley... I have a confession... I didn't peel the celery, I used some parsley AND I chopped the leafy tops for a little garnish. Ooooppss! It was amazing...You guys need to find the greenest celery that you can because it looses color fast. I was surprised how much it lost it's vibrant color after a few minutes.
So I was left with a ton of celery left...What does a girl do with a bunch of celery....make ants on a log??? Nope.
How about Baked Celery and Pears! I never would have thought to marry the two but you know what I have found...Celery is a diverse veggie....You can add it to almost anything (almost).
To make this, you halve and core Bosc pears and lay them in a bed of sliced celery and pour over everything a lemony, sugary syrup spiked with expensive dessert wine. 
I used the cheapest dessert wine I could find, it cost $15 for a half bottle, which gave me pain.You roast the pears until tender, remove them from the oven and place them in a serving dish while you boil down the syrup and celery. When the celery is shiny, sticky, and almost jammy, you take it off the heat, pour it over the pears, and serve.
Next time this is made I will be adding a ton of spices and some fresh herbs. I think that cinnamon sticks would not only look pretty but would be a great addition. Rosemary would be wonderful as well. I have never baked nor braised celery before. Usually I just eat it raw or use it in soups. This dish would be a glorious ice cream topper. Just imagine vanilla bean ice cream with baked pear and celery infused with cinnamon and rosemary (or thyme or heck, both!). I think that this will be made again and better! Try it out and let me know what you think. I enjoyed this novelty dish. The celery tasted only vaguely of celery, mostly it was just achingly sweet. So...if you are not a fan of celery you just may be after tasting this!
I hope you enjoyed this double whammy (god, I just had a flash back of that game show, press your luck) of a post! I really had a a lot of fun with both recipes and I think that I got my celery craving outta the way for a while. Stay tuned people...FAVA beans were hand delivered to my desk and I am going to be making a dish that sounds to die for. (Hugh...I may need a personal trainer after all this tasting) :P
I gotta say. I have only worked with Fava's a couple of times.
Can I tell you a secret?
You see,years a go I worked in the produce section of Earth Fare (two and a half years to be exact). What I would do is order all kinds of interesting produce and then go to the cook book section and find a recipe that looked interesting to me. Back then I had absolutely no idea what I was doing in the kitchen. When I got hired I had no idea about health foods. My food consisted of the Wendy's dollar menu. Well once I worked there for about a week I was determined to be the best (I don't do ANYTHING half ass) produce worker. I had customers asking me all kinds of questions about the produce we sold. "What can I eat that has potassium?" "What is burdock root and what is it good for?" "What the heck is a Dorian fruit!?!" Just tons of questions like that all day and I had no idea. I started researching and reading about the products that we sold but I knew that the best way to really get a idea of what they were all about was to actually try them. Back to what I was saying...I would order things that looked interesting to me. I would get a cook book and find a recipe that grabbed my attention and then take it to the copy room and copy it. Before leaving work I would grab all the items and when I got home the chemistry lab of food would start.
See you Monday!
-Heather
