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I think I lived on celery during one of my poor student years. I would do a stir-fry (with chicken strips), slicing the stalks thinly on the bias and adding curry powder or dry mustard to the pan for flavour. A little chicken broth and covering the pan/wok for a few minutes at the end would help soften the celery somewhat. Then a swirl of oyster sauce at the end.

A veggie peeler can help remove the really stringy bits, but I always felt that I was removing all the nutritious parts.

Sedano e riso "soup" (this comes out more like a runny risotto). The recipe is originally Marcella Hazan, and I always double this recipe because it's GREAT. She uses chicken broth--I use veg broth or water. From memory (so check!):

2 cups finely chopped celery
2 Tbsp finely minced onion
2 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 cup arborio rice
4 cups water or broth (I use 5-6 for a soupier texture)
fresh parsley & grated parmesan to garnish

Put the celery, olive oil, & salt in a saucepan and just cover w/water. Bring to a boil, then simmer gently until celery is softened (not too soft!). Saute onion in butter until pale gold. Add half the celery and the rice. Put the rest of the celery through a food mill or in the blender, then add, along with the 4 cups of water/broth. Cover and cook on med-low heat for 15 to 20 mins. Serve w/parmesan and parsley.

2-4 cups of celery is a LOT of celery. And this is a great recipe for strong-tasting celery.

How about juicing the whole thing up and making your own celery soda?

Here's a lovely celery, date and feta salad which makes use of both the stalks and leaves - it would be perfect for your fresh greenmarket celery! A mandoline would help to slice the stalks very thinly, but a knife will work too.

http://www.boston.com/ae/food/articles/2005/08/10/celery_date_and_feta_salad?mode=PF

Oh isn't locally grown celery a marvelous treat?! I was lucky enough to get some in my CSA share, and I can't get over the fragrance.

I used the leaves to flavor stock - this resulted in the best stock I've ever had. The stalks went into soup and lentil stew.

i love to make an oniony tomato sauce and cook up a bunch of celery in it with a bit of cumin. goes fantastically on rice. Strong celeries (this sounds like the turkish version) are also fantastic with roasted eggplant.

I've always enjoyed celery both raw and cooked. My husband ate it because, as he said, "You should. It's healthy or something." All that changed when I made braised celery (first using Bittman's recipe, then adapting it to stovetop via Alton Brown's similar recipe). I'm now *asked* to make celery about once a week. So, if you haven't tried braised celery, I urge you to give it a shot.

I love saving the leaves to toss into a salad, personally. Or pureeing them along with leftover herb stems, avocado and a touch of olive oil if needed for a lovely dressing over rice.

In chicken salad! The kind with grapes & mayo.

Look up a recipe for Celery Victor - a salad made from a cold poached celery heart, with its origins in San Francisco. It's like a celery caesar salad! Delicious.