Bad celery is bad, but good celery is good. Bad celery is stringy, watery, and bland. Good celery is snappy, juicy, and vegetal. This is a salad for good celery only, and lucky for us, it’s that time of year when the stalks are extra large and leafy! Now is the time for salads that skip the lettuce entirely to let those late-summer concentrated flavors shine. This goes for just about anything in season now - tomatoes, beets, cucumbers, stone fruit, corn, all excellent candidates for a summery composed salad centerpiece. But unlike celery, these examples get a lot of attention. Today’s crunchy summer salad darling flies under the radar, but I think it's high time she gets some recognition. For this salad, we’re combining thinly sliced stalks and their leaves (which alone are quite bitter) and cutting that flavor with sweetness from chewy date pieces plus salty fattiness from shaved parm. The toasted almonds give the salad heft and texture. And the whole thing comes together with a very simple dressing of lemon, good olive oil, and a drizzle of honey. There are no bland ingredients here and the whole thing is pretty punchy, making it the ideal accompaniment to a simple protein like grilled fish, seared chicken thighs, or flank steak. It stands up to an overnight layover in the fridge (though I prefer eating it fresh for optimal crunch) and packs well for a picnic. As the sun begins to set later and the days cool off, this salad is hope for hanging on to summer just a bit longer.
Ingredients (serves 2-4):
5 large stalks of celery
¼ cup celery leaves
4 dates (the softest ones in the container)
¼ cup raw almonds
1 tablespoon honey
½ lemon
Good olive oil
Flaky sea salt
½ cup shaved Parmesan
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheight. Spread the almonds on a baking sheet and roast for about 10 minutes. They should be aromatic and slightly darker than when you put them in. Let them cool, and then coarsely chop and add to a serving bowl.
Meanwhile, slice the celery on the bias (at a slight angle), thinly enough that you’d want to eat multiple slices in one bite, but not so thin that they lose their crunch. Add to the bowl.
Tear the celery leaves into pieces and add them to the bowl.
Chop the dates into small pieces and add them to the bowl.
Drizzle the honey and squeeze the lemon over the ingredients. Add a few glugs of olive oil and a pinch of flaky sea salt. Toss to combine and taste, adding more honey for sweetness, olive oil for fattiness, and/or lemon for acid. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Use a vegetable peeler to slice off thick curls of cheese from a block of Parmesan and decorate the top of the salad.