Thursday, February 17, 2011

Celery Roses with Herb Cream Cheese

Yesterday was a cool, rainy day.  Today I awoke to clear skies and sunshine!  You never know what kind of weather you will have in Southern California. 
I decided to cut some fresh herbs from my garden and make something I have been thinking about for some time.  I had seen stuffed celery in an old cookbook I have that belonged to my mother.  The photo was of a tray of canapes from the late forties.  Many of the recipes were for things I would never make now, but this one for stuffed celery in the shape of a flower looked exactly like something I would like.  I gave it a try and this is what I came up with.  The directions said to make a cream cheese dip from a package and stuff the celery stalks.  Well, I don't use any packaged dip mixes, not with an herb garden right off my kitchen patio! 

 Begin with 6 or 8 washed and dried Ribs of Celery that have been cut all the same length.
Herb Cream Cheese
(Makes 16 tablespoons)
  • 1 Tablespoon Fresh Parsley, minced
  • 1 Tablespoon Fresh Chives, minced
  • 1 Tablespoon Fresh Marjoram, minced
  • 1 Teaspoon Fresh Thyme (lemon thyme if you have it)
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Fresh Lemon Zest
  • 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
  • 1/4 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
  • 1/8 Teaspoon  Sea Salt
  • 4 ounces of Light Cream Cheese (50% less fat), at room temperature
Mix all ingredients together until smooth. Don't use a food processor for this or the cream cheese will turn green.  Spread cheese mixture on each rib of celery, making sure to clean the sides; do not overfill.  After you have all six ribs filled, stack them together beginning with the smaller center ribs of the celery. Press together gently so as not to squeeze out the cream cheese.  Wipe the edges clean after you have them all formed together.  The more celery ribs you add the more your "flower" will take shape. The celery stalk I used today did not have small center stalks. I think those would make a better center than what I show here so use those if you have them.  Once you get all your stalks together, lay it down on a cutting board and carefully cut into 1 inch thick slices.  Clean you knife off after each cut.  Now that I see them plated, I think it would be a good idea to rotate the celery roll after each cut.  You can see by the top flower that it kept it's round shape, where as the lower flowers have a flat side to them.
I placed my "flowers" on a bed of Fresh Sorrel leaves and added a few Rosemary flowers for color.
Information is based on 1 Tablespoon Herbal Spread
Nutritional information provided by NutriMirror



14 comments:

  1. Carla, these are lovely! I'm going to have to try them. Thanks for sharing. :0)

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  3. Hi Ladies,
    thanks for the visit! The cream cheese is just as good spread on the celery without all the work with making the roll!

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  4. I think these are charming! I can't wait to try them when my fresh herbs are growing (in a few months, here!).

    I'm honored to see my blog on your sidebar!

    ~Susan

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  5. Wow, they look delicious and I loved the way you presented it!

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  6. Thanks for a great recipe and instructions.

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  7. Susan, thank you for stopping by. I love your blog, you have the most amazing photos, everything looks so good.

    I will be over to your blog soon.

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  8. Hi Heather, thank you for visitin my blog! I think I could have done a better job at putting the celery together, next time I think I will refrigerate them for a few hours so the cream cheese is firmer and that should keep the rolls rounder.

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  9. Hello Bernideen,
    I hope you like the recipe. It was a lot of fun making it. My husband really enjoyed the herb cheese and ended up eating the rest of it with crackers. So much for my second try at the celery roses!

    Thank you so much for your visit.

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  10. Now that's what I call fun food!

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  11. Red Hestia, thank you for stopping by my blog and for the following.

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  12. Hey Carla! Thanks. :) It is me, carrieredhead! I opened a blog that my I feel comfortable with sharing. I'm so glad to see this new one you have created!

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  13. Hi Carrie, I knew that was you, but didn't know if you wanted to use your name so I just used Red! Love the look of your new blog.

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