Rockin' Celery Boats

From an episode by Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello, this is one of the recipes for the potluck challenge. So good!

• Ready In: 25 mins
• Serves: 5

Ingredients

• 6  celery ribs, peeled
• 1⁄3 cup pecans
• 3⁄4 tablespoon honey
• 3⁄4 tablespoon  melted butter
• 1  pinch cayenne pepper
• 1  pinch salt
• 4  ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1⁄4 teaspoon curry powder
• 1  red bell pepper, seeded (or 1 red jalapenos, seeded)

Directions

1. Cut the celery into 4" long pieces, then slice off a thin edge at the rounded part of the stalk to help them lay flat while stuffing. Put them in a bowl of ice water and refrigerate until ready to stuff.
2. In a bowl, toss the pecans with the honey, butter, cayenne and salt, making sure the nuts are well coated. Spread on a baking sheet, bake at 350*F. until nuts are toasted, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool completely.
3. Chop pecans coarsely in a food processor. Remove and set aside. Now put the cream cheese and curry powder in the processer and process until smooth. Remove the celery from the refrigerator, drain and dry well. Scrape cream cheese out of the food processor and mix with the nuts. I usually take about 1/4 cup of red bell pepper and chop it up finely, then add to the cream cheese mixure. Fill each celery boat with a generous amount of the mixture.
4. Cut the red bell pepper(or jalapenos) into thick strips, and then cut each strip in half at an angle. This should look like a sail. Garnish each of your celery boats with its red pepper sail. Enjoy!