by Bill Allbritton

Created on: May 23, 2009   Last Updated: May 29, 2009

I was so pleased when I discovered an excellent way to prepare a condiment which greatly assisted me to consume the fiber which my body needs.

This handy dish, which happened by a lucky accident, uses the entire bunch, not just the obviously tender stalks. It also includes the mostly tough and sinewy outer stalks and leaves which I had often discarded unless I had plans to make soup or a stew within the next few days.

It was my fondness for steamed vegetables that made the discovery happen. My usual approach with some vegetables, especially onions, was to trim and discard the ends and many of their loose skins before placing the uncut, intact bulb in my steamer. After cooking, I would remove and discard the skins and chop or dice the cooked onions into bite sized pieces.

However, celery required an entirely different handling, or so I thought at the time. I had always prepared it for cooking by trimming its end, and discarding some of the outer stalks and leaves before selecting the tender stalks which I chopped into bite-sized pieces for the steaming process.

Then came a day when I prepared a large bunch of the veggie for steaming in much the same manner as I did my onions. On this day I removed only the damaged stalks before steaming the rest at a moderate temperature with a good quantity of water in my steamer.

The steaming of the uncut bunch of celery with only minimal trimming is the way to go-with a cooking time of at least twenty minutes or more. Overcooking does not appear to be a problem. One needs only to reduce the whole bunch into bite size pieces for serving with a savory salad dressing which contains garlic or onions.

So many good things deserve mention about this savory food item! It's truly fabulous with rice or pasta products either as a stand-alone sauce, or as an additional ingredient to your other favorites. I especially like it with potatoes and zesty pepper flakes.

This excellent dish can be prepared well in advance. I mix the celery pieces with a salad dressing (usually oil and vinegar) and keep it stored in a glass jar until a sudden need for something-good-to-eat arises. It keeps safely in the fridge for weeks, perhaps longer. It's so convenient to have on hand if a person might wish to display his or her prowess as a food whiz.

The cooks who produce and serve this delightful dish to their friends (especially those who may also need additional fiber in their diets) are entitled to claim bragging rights. Dizzy Dean, a famous baseball pitcher in the 1930's, once said: It ain't bragging - if it's true.

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