It was only a matter of time until the celery juice fad gained real traction and snowballed into a full fledged celery takeover. As a true lover of the stalky, fibrous veg, I'm not surprised, and I'm pretty excited. It's got a clean, salty, and in my opinion, elegant flavor that tastes great with bold nuts and sweet things. Stalks are awkward, though. How do you cut them? What's the best treatment? I can see why people want to just juice it all and call it a day.
Luckily, the world is full of ingenious, chefs who know how to slice it. Celery salads are stalking the menus of hot restaurants all around NYC. To check it out for herself, our CMO Connie Matisse hit the streets of New York with Bon Appétit's recipe genius and Senior Associate Food Editor Molly Baz, to sample some of the city's finest celery salads. This not only inspired a tasty and nostalgic salad recipe from Baz herself, but a killer giveaway.
[UPDATE: Giveaway closed.] This giveaway includes two bottles of olive oil by Brightland, which if you don't know them, you should. This company has done hard research and quality control— they basically have a PhD in olive oil. Not really, but they are brutally transparent about the purity of their product and the biz. It's made in California with olives sourced from a single-estate orchard, and it's gold standard stuff.
Also in the mix is an earth friendly Gamma Apron from Hedley & Bennet made from recycled cotton and soda bottles, and a Weeknight Serving Bowl from yours truly in, you guessed it, Celery. If you're interested in entering just head over to our IG @eastforkpottery for more info.
Circling back to the point—Molly gifted us this ants on a log inspired salad that will take you back to days of field trips and after school snacks. Enjoy, kiddos.
Ants on a Log Celery Salad
from Molly Baz
This recipe is essentially the adult version of the beloved childhood snack “Ants on a Log” with dates that sub in for raisins, and roasted peanuts which take the place of peanut butter. It’s sweet, salty, spicy, and acidic and the perfect foil for any number of roasty, toasty proteins you could serve alongside it.
- 3 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar
- 1 tsp honey
- ½ tsp red pepper flake
- Kosher salt
- 10 celery stalks, thinly sliced on the bias
- 1 Granny Smith apple, core removed, thinly sliced into half moons
- ¾ cup roasted, salted, peanuts, crushed
- 1 cup packed mint leaves
- 1 small shallot, peeled and thinly sliced crosswise into rings
- 8 medjoul dates, pitted
- 3 tbsp olive oil
In a large bowl, whisk together rice vinegar, honey, and red pepper flake. Slowly stream in olive oil, whisking constantly until well combined. Season dressing with salt.
Add celery, apple slices, crushed peanuts and mint. If there are any celery leaves attached to the stalks, pick and add them as well.
Rinse shallot rings under cold water to deflame their bite, then pat dry with paper towels and add to celery mixture. Tear dates into small bite sized pieces and add to bowl as well. Season with salt and toss everything with your hands until well combined and all elements are coated in dressing. Taste and add more salt if needed, it should taste sweet, sour, salty and spicy! Transfer to a large serving bowl.
