Cooking Italiano - Part II - One Recipe

Looks like this is going to be around four posts after I checked all the pictures.  Doesn't help that I seem to have picked up some kind of food poisoning or intestinal virus from a place I had lunch yesterday which is really sapping my energy.

Today we will examine one of two recipes that got me stoked.  This one was for Braised Celery.  I was excited because 1) I don't think I've ever used celery as a dish before (meaning as the central component of the dish) and 2) it was a very low ingredient number-high technique number recipe that I consider to be the real mark of good cooking.

Step 1 - Clean and peel the strings from the celery, cut into thirds

Step 2 - Parboil for one minute to preserve color

Step 3 - Sweat onions in butter until translucent.  Add some chopped pancetta (Italian salted bacon).  Cook for five minutes to combine flavors.  Add the celery.  Cook for 10 minutes stirring every so often.

Step 4 - Add beef broth and simmer until the celery is just tender, around 30 minutes

Step 5 - Turn up the heat and cook down the braising liquid until is is just about gone.

Step 6 - Put the celery in a baking dish concave side up, and place the onion pancetta mixture on top.

Step 7 - All this can be done ahead of time.  The dish is finished by putting Parmesano Reggiano cheese on top an broiling until brown which is done just before serving.