Celery Gratin

Braising celery transforms its crunchy raw texture (left) into dense silkiness with a mellow flavor. A few aromatics and a finish of cheese turn a bunch of celery into a mellow, deeply flavored side dish—the beauty of simplicity. This dish is also gorgeous with a slice of rare roast bee

Unbalanced

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Step 1

Heat the oven to 3?5°F.

Step 2

Rinse the stal?s to be sure there is no grit on the inner sur?aces. I? your celery seems stringy, ?eel o?? the outer layer o? the larger stal?s with a vegetable ?eeler.

Step 3

Arrange the celery in a 9 x 13-inch ba?ing dish so that it’s more or less in an even layer; it’s ?ine i? things are slightly crowded. Add ½ cu? water and the vinegar and ?o? in the thyme s?rigs, garlic, and bay lea?. S?rin?le with the chile ?la?es, 1 teas?oon salt, and generous twists o? blac? ?e??er. Pour the olive oil over everything.

Step 4

Cover the dish with ?oil and ba?e until the celery is quite tender, 25 to 35 minutes. Remove the ?oil (care?ul, the steam is hot), s?rin?le the Parmigiano over the to?, and distribute the butter over the sur?ace.

Step 5

Return the dish to the oven, uncovered this time, and ba?e until the cheese is melty and there are ?ust a ?ew ?uices bubbling around the celery, another 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool ?or at least 15 minutes and then serve, s?ooning over any ?uices remaining in the dish.