Pickled Celery Leaves
This is by far one of my favorite ideas I have ever had. I keep celery leaves out of my vegetable broth because they make it too pungent. I don't want to waste them, so I had the idea one day to pickle them with confit lemon and nutmeg. The result was fantastic, and now I put up pickled celery leaves every time I come across a nice head of celery. I use the pickles in soups, stews, sausages, meat marinades, and have even made a cocktail with them. You can also ferment these using a dry fermenting method of 2% salt to the weight of all the vegetable material.*
Leaves from one head of celery
pinch of red pepper flake
zest from 1/2 lemon, or 1/2 confit lemon peel, diced and blanched
1 t. fresh grated nutmeg
3/4 C. white wine vinegar
1.5 C. water
2 t. cane sugar
Wash the celery leaves and chop them roughly. Put them into a bowl and add the pepper flake, lemon, and nutmeg. Toss to combine. Pack all into a pint mason jar.
In a small saucepan, bring the vinegar, water, and sugar to a boil. Pour this brine over the celery leaf mixture, until the brine reaches up to 1/2" below the jar's rim. Place the lid on the jar and cool completely to room temperature before refrigerating.
* To Ferment instead: Omit the vinegar and water. Massage 2% salt and the sugar into the leaves, lemon, and spices. Massage gently so as not to mash the leaves, but to still allow them to release their juices. Pack them tightly into a jar and weigh everything down so that as the salt draws out moisture from the leaves to create a brine, the leaves are weighted all the way under the brine. This is important to prevent mold on ferments! Put a lid on the jar and leave it at room temperature for 7-10 days. Begin tasting after a week, and if you choose to continue fermenting, keep on going! The longer you leave it, the more flavor character the leaves will take on.
For more information on fermenting vegetables, consider the online course Mastering Vegetable Fermentation and other awesome classes at The Fermentation School!