A bouquet for your Valentine

Celery Roses would be a great appetizer to serve to your Valentine while you are putting the last minute touches on the rest of your meal. This is my entry for Vegetable Love 2009.

Celery Roses

filled with Roasted Red Bell Pepper Sun Cheese

Ingredients:
1 bunch celery
1 cup raw, shelled sunflower seeds
2 TBS lemon juice
2 TBS Ume plum vinegar
3/4 cups roasted red bell pepper, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped

Directions:
1. Put the sunflower seeds in a bowl and cover with water 1-2 inches above the seeds. Soak the seeds for 6-8 hours.
2. Rinse the seeds many times to wash away the skins that float to the top of the water.
3. Add the soaked seeds, lemon juice, ume plum vinegar, garlic and red bell pepper to a food processor and run until smooth. Stopping to scrape down the sides every so often.
4. Put the Roasted Red Bell Pepper Sun Cheese into the fridge to chill for a few hours.

Assemble:
1. Chop off the end of your celery. Keep it to give you an idea of how the celery will go together to form the roses.

2. Wash and dry your celery stalks and trim off ends to make them all the same length. Line them up with the wide ends all on one side.3. Fill the celery stalks with the sun cheese.
4. Cut the stalks in half.
5. Using the halves with the wide ends, nest the celery stalks back together to look like the end you cut off.
5. Wrap your bundled celery in plastic wrap and refrigerate.
6. Refrigerate the remaining stalks until ready to serve.
7. Remove bundled celery from fridge and remove plastic wrap. Slice into 1/4 inch thick slices and carefully place roses onto serving dish. They can be delicate.
8. Arrange roses and stalks into a bouquet as pictured.

*Sun Cheese based on a recipe in Casa De Luz Community Cookbook: Sauces, Dressings, Condiments, and Spreads