Celery and blue cheese butter toasts

I've had a long and growing infatuation with Gabrielle Hamilton, starting with my first time ever eating at her restaurant Prune five years ago. Everything I've learned about her since, whether through her dinner party pieces in the Times, her memoir, or her role in PBS' Mind of a Chef, seems to leave me more intrigued and attached and endeared to her strangely cold (but warm) and passionate demeanor.

I ate at Prune most recently this past fall, and while the company was A+ at the quaint tasting table downstairs (hi Anne!), it pains me to admit that I was really disappointed* in the food itself. (*I'm choosing to blame it on anything/anyone but Gabrielle since, as I said, my love for her and her love of food has only grown stronger and deeper with time, and now I find myself physically pained and unable to criticize her in any form—bare with me.)

But the meal was redeemed by one dish, one MVP. And it was the inspiration for this recipe. It was why-didn't-I-think-of-that simple, and yet so stinking tasty. In attempting to recreate it myself, the trickiest part was picking a good blue cheese—but all that requires is some taste testing, which no one in their right mind would complain about :) I really recommend a mild blue cheese here. It isn't the place for anything too strong, or the lemony, olive oily celery won't shine like it should.

Celery and blue cheese butter toasts

Inspired by Gabrielle Hamilton’s at Prune
Yields 6-8 toasts
4 or so stalks celery (leaves included), thinly sliced
A couple tablespoons of chopped parsley
2 tablespoons or so good extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
Juice from ½ lemon
2 small cloves garlic, divided
½ tsp or so salt
Freshly cracked black pepper
2 T butter, room temperature
¼ lb or so mild, creamy blue cheese (see note above)
Loaf of good French bread

In a medium bowl, combine celery and parsley with the olive oil and lemon juice, and stir until emulsified. Using a microplane (or mincing very finely if you don’t have one), grate in one garlic clove. Season with salt and pepper to taste. In a separate small bowl, mix together butter and blue cheese until combined. Cover both and let bowls sit in fridge for a while, up to a day. When you’re ready to eat, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Slice bread into 1-inch thick pieces. Brush with a bit of oil and toast for 8-10 minutes until golden and crisping up (but still soft in the center, like toast). Using the other garlic clove, rub each toast with garlic to flavor it. Spread a generous amount of blue cheese mixture on each toast. If you want, you can broil for a minute to melt the cheese a little, or you can eat cold as is. Top each with a heaping pile of celery (and lots of the juice too), and drizzle with more olive oil and more freshly cracked black pepper.