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Stuffed Celery
Hearts of celery 3 ounce package cream cheese 1 tablespoon cream 1/8 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon parsley, minced paprika Crisp the celery in ice water and dry well. Mix the cream cheese, cream and salt with the Worcestershire sauce until smooth. Mix in parsley and stuff the celery. Sprinkle with paprika. Chill and serve as a relish, as a salad accompaniment or cut into pieces and serve with French dressing on crisp lettuce as a salad.
A cream-cheese filling for celery ribs, from the era when a relish tray was standard at the start of a meal. Nothing here is technically difficult; the results depend almost entirely on how crisp and dry the celery is.
- Quantity of celeryThe original gives no amount. Three ounces of cheese fills roughly 10 to 12 short ribs from the inner heart of one large bunch, enough for a relish plate for four to six.
- The 3-ounce packageCream cheese was commonly sold in small 3-ounce foil bricks in this period. The standard block is now 8 ounces, so use a scant half block, or scale the other ingredients up by about two and two-thirds if you want to use the whole thing.
- CreamAny cream will do; the tablespoon is there only to loosen the cheese to piping consistency. If the cheese is cold and stiff, let it sit at room temperature rather than adding more liquid.
- Crisping is the hingeHalf an hour in ice water firms the ribs and makes them snap. Drying matters just as much: any water left in the groove will thin the filling and make it slide out. Blot the channel with a paper towel.
- Hearts onlyUse the pale inner ribs. The outer stalks are stringy and too wide-channelled to hold filling neatly; save them for stock.
- Filling the ribsA piping bag with a plain or star tip is faster and cleaner than a knife. Trim the ribs to two- or three-inch lengths before filling if serving as finger food.
- PaprikaA mild, sweet paprika, used for colour rather than heat. Sprinkle just before serving; it dulls and bleeds if it sits on the chilled cheese for hours.
- Make-aheadFill up to a few hours in advance, cover loosely, and refrigerate. Beyond that the celery begins to weep and soften.