Celery and beans - a quest

"Celery and white beans are an Italian truth" Yotam Ottolenghi

I was very taken with that quote which appeared in a recent Ottolenghi newsletter - Chickpeas, lentils and every bean in between - and I definitely thought it was a good start for a post, and yet I cannot find a single recipe from Ottolenghi that combines the two - white, green, or every other kind of bean there is. So what on earth is he talking about? And to add to that, I couldn't find a classic Italian recipe either. Well perhaps.

Was he talking about soffrito? - the classic base for many, many Italian dishes - celery, carrot and onion, softened in olive oil - similar to the French mirepoix which it seems to me is the same, other than the fact that the French use butter. But it's not celery and white beans is it? Where are the white beans. And he did specify white beans, so I decided to enlarge my quest to include any kind of bean.

Mostly when I set out on one of these internet explorations I find all sorts of exciting, tempting, and often innovative things. Not with this quest. Honestly I can't say I found anything truly amazing, although two or three might just be worth trying, and I sort of wonder why. I mean I know celery isn't the world's favourite vegetable, but beans are ubiquitous, and you would think that the crunch of the celery and soft blandness of the beans would be an obvious match. Indeed the second part of that Ottolenghi quote - "the aromatic bitterness, the way celery adds structure without weight" reinforces that thought. But nevertheless he provides not a single recipe combining the two although there are indeed plenty that use the base of soffrito in one form or another - but soffrito is an equal mix of celery, carrot and onion. The celery is not the star. And there are, as I said, no beans.

I began with Italy because of the 'Italian truth' statement and pretty soon I did indeed come across a Sicilian soup called Fasuoli cu l'accia (Bean and celery soup from a website called Cooking with Rosetta, which also appeared on two other websites -  Family Friend - Lukas Volger and Francesca Salvino - but although this lady gave us the same recipe (and photograph) she did not attribute it to Rosetta Costanto. Not that it looked that great I have to say - well Lukas Volger's looked more tempting, but they did all rave about it. And it does use a lot of celery.

Soup, of course - sometimes called stew or ragout - is the first obvious way to combine these two ingredients. So herewith a few more examples, with Meera Sodha and her Celery, saffron and white bean stew being the star here I think. Other examples are two from the New York Times - which may be behind a pay wall - Quick white bean and celery ragoût - Alexa Weibel and White beans with celery - Martha Rose Shulman. Then there's White bean and celery soup - Vegalicious and White bean soup - Plant Based Redhead and maybe Braised celery and white beans - Compelled to Cook, as well. Hearty cold weather stuff.

The second most obvious category is salads, and I really thought Ottolenghi would have something here - but no - so just two examples that looked mildly interesting - White bean salad with celery and mint (and sometimes tuna) - Pamela Salzman and

Little white bean and celery salad - the Pypers Kitchen

At this point I almost gave up, but then, remembering a beef, asparagus and celery stir fry that has become part of my springtime repertoire, I thought perhaps the Asians might have plenty of stir-fry options. Well - it turns out - a few - but not that many - indeed I have only three to offer here - all from non Asians: Stir-fried celery with black bean sauce - Alice Zaslavsky who uses quite different beans - fermented soy beans and Chicken, celery, green bean and almond stir fry - Taste and which uses green beans Sautéed butter beans with celery and onions - Food 52, and I suppose butter beans count as white beans, but technically none of them really fit the bill. And do they look amazing? No I don't think so.

There was one outlier which I include for it's originality, but I'm not sure that I'm convinced - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Bruschetta of celery and beans - not white beans though.

I'm still a bit confused about Ottolenghi and his quote though. Did he mean that Italy loved celery and also loved beans - not necessarily together? I do see that they could do well in soup and salad and probably stir fries too, but maybe it's just a marriage not made in heaven.

 I might give Nigel the last word:

"It's principal use in my kitchen is as a way to get hummus into my mouth."

Hummus after all is made with chickpeas, which are a kind of bean. He could be right about it being the best way to combine celery with beans. Any bean based dip would do after all.

POSTSCRIPT

With respect to yesterday's post - We cannot do perfection - we certainly can't. And on some days we don't even come close. In fact we fail completely.

Today I slaved for hours over cutting up a pile of home-grown peaches for jam - and then standing over the stove whilst it cooked. All was going well until I went for a brief couple of minutes rest as David thought it wasn't ready, only to return to complete catastrophe and burnt peaches. Nevertheless we rescued what we could and here it is. I think it's going to be humorously labelled caramelised peach jam. I could cry. Postscript to this - I was given some with a croissant for breakfast, and it did indeed taste alright, and not really burnt, but not nearly as nice as the batch I had made the day before. I am still kicking myself for this.

The chutney looks alright though so I suppose I should console myself with that.

And I still ponder on the perfection of the patterning on that bird. Why, why, why? I can almost understand those who believe in a God who created it all for our benefit. For us to enjoy the beauty. But I really cannot. So why is the world - as created - and all its living things so complicatedly beautiful? What is the purpose of it? I know I will be told the bird is flashy to attract a mate - but he doesn't have to be so intricately flashy does he? Something to ponder on.

YEARS GONE BY

February 24

2025 - Breakfast in bed

2024 - Quenelles - a forgotten delicacy

2023 - Everyday creativity = happiness

2022 - 4 common leftovers - no. 1 - Milk

2021 - Missing

2020 - More quantity than quality - but still ... - peaches back then

2019 - Nothing

2018 - Bruschetta then and now

2017 - Rice pudding