Celery paste

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 150 g celery leaves (from celery, celeriac or celery sticks)
• 15 g salt
• 150 ml oil, e.g. sunflower oil

Instructions

Working time approx. 15 minutes; Total time approx. 15 minutes

from all kinds of celery leaves; for storage

This paste is ideal for preserving large quantities of celery leaves for the winter. For example, if you buy celery bulbs with the leaves still attached in the fall, or if you have celery in the garden that’s ready to be harvested, the quantities can be adjusted as required to suit the amount of leaves available. I sort the celery leaves, although thin stalks can also be included. I freeze the thicker stalks (including those from celery) in 10-15 cm sections and add them later to broths, soups, or stocks for simmering – or I freeze them in small pieces and later add them to Bolognese, vegetable soups, potato soup, or similar. For every 10 parts leaves, add 1 part salt + at least 10 parts oil; this will keep the paste well. Now puree the leaves (possibly coarsely chopped) with the salt and oil as finely as you like. Some leaves require a little more oil, but the resulting paste should not be too thick. Now fill small jars with this paste, about 1 cm below the rim, and smooth the mixture down, avoiding any air bubbles. If necessary, clean the free rim again, then fill with oil and seal the jar. The specified 150 g of leaves is enough for about two small 150 ml jars. The paste made from 100 g of leaves will fill one jar of about 200 ml. I like to add this paste shortly before the end of the cooking time to soups, stews, braised dishes, vegetable stir-fries, risotto, Bolognese sauce, or similar dishes – anywhere where a dish could use a bit of strong seasoning. You can also quickly make a spicy spread by adding a little of the paste to cream cheese, quark, or butter. Important: The salt content of the paste must be taken into account when adding other seasonings!