Braised Celery, Burnt Orange and Fennel

Braised Celery, Burnt Orange and Fennel
Serves 4 as a side
These are wonderful plain, but luxury never hurt anyone. Thin a quarter cup of mayonnaise with a couple of teaspoons of fresh lemon juice. Smear the top of each piece with a tablespoon of this sauce.

1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon fennel seed, roughly chopped
pinch red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon butter
2 whole bunches of celery
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Remove outside, tougher celery stalks so that about each bunch has about 6 inner stalks still attached. Save the extra celery for another use. Cut the top off each bunch of celery so that each bunch is now 6 inches long. Halve the stalks lengthwise, trim the base and set aside.
Heat a 10 inch heavy skillet over medium low heat. Have all the ingredients at the ready. Add the zest, fennel, pepper flakes to the hot dry pan and stir constantly until the zest begins to toast and the fennel seed become fragrant, a couple of minutes.

Add the butter, once it melts, add the orange juice and 1/2 cup water, place the celery cut side up in the pan, turn heat to medium high. When half the liquid has evaporated from the pan, about 12 minutes. Turn the celery cut side down. The celery is cooked when the liquid has greatly reduced and is slightly syrupy, about 12 minutes. Serve immediately, pour pan glaze over the celery.