Pic of Sweet and sour braised celery

Sweet and sour braised celery

Show ingredients

Sweet and sour braised celery

Side Serves 4 50 min
Braising celery makes it tender, mild and silky. This Jewish-Turkish dish (known as apio) gets its sweetness from honey and sourness from lemon juice. It's best at room temperature – eat as a salad, a side to fish or as tapas.

Ingredients

  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1-2 tbsp runny honey
  • 100ml water
  • 1 bunch celery, tough outer ribs peeled with a vegetable peeler, cut into 4cm pieces, tender inner leaves reserved
  • handful flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
  • salt and pepper

Method

Prep time: 10 min
Cooking time: 40 min

  • Step 1

    Combine lemon juice, oil and honey with the water and ¼ teaspoon each of salt and pepper.

  • Step 2

    Bring to the boil in a lidded pan large enough to take the celery and when honey has dissolved, add the celery.

  • Step 3

    Cover and simmer gently until celery is tender and liquid has reduced to a syrupy glaze, about 35 minutes.

  • Step 4

    If the pot loses liquid too fast before the celery has cooked, top up with a little more water.

  • Step 5

    When celery is soft coarsely chop reserved celery leaves and sprinkle these over the celery along with the flat leaf parsley.