simple celery salad

charred lemon oil • salt • white pepper • parsley makes 4 servings I’ll admit, I jumped on the celery juice craze in the beginning of 2019 and drank a tall glass of it every day for two weeks. I was surprised to hear a lot of people commenting about how radiant my skin looked, and I lost five pounds over that period. I eased up on my daily routine (just got tired of it), but I still blend a few stalks with water a few times a week and sip on it during the day. In March 2019, my friend Anya Fernald posted a picture on Instagram of a chopped celery salad and wrote a caption about it being a staple in her home. Since I had literally ten bunches of celery in the deli drawer of my fridge, I made a salad inspired by hers. Now I eat it at least once a week. Sometimes I just want a clean, raw, and crunchy green salad, and this always does the trick.

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Step 1

In a large bowl, combine the celery and lemon oil. Toss to combine. Season with salt and white pepper, then garnish with the parsley and celery leaves and serve.

Step 2

“Swamp Thing” by Hiatus Kaiyote from Choose Your Weapon removing the strings from celery One of the first skills I learned in culinary school was how to remove the tough strings, or ribs, running along the outside lengths of a celery stalk.

Step 3

Sounds fun, right? Unless celery is cut into paper-thin slices, I don’t like eating it if the tough strings haven’t been removed. They’re chewy. They get stuck in my teeth. They’re a pain. I’ll admit, when I’m home and don’t care much about presentation, I will use a Y-shaped peeler to remove a thin layer of the celery, thus removing the strings. Don’t be like me. De-string your celery like a grown-up by using a paring knife to get beneath the strings and pulling them off. It will take longer than my lazy way, but yours will look nicer in the end.

Step 4

Using a Microplane, grate 1 tablespoon of the zest from the lemon into a heatproof bowl. Thinly slice the lemon and add it to the bowl as well. Add the garlic and salt and set aside.

Step 5

In a small skillet, warm the olive oil over medium-high heat until it just starts to smoke. Immediately remove the pan from the heat and pour the oil into the bowl. Let the oil cool to room temperature. Use immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Step 6

charred lemon oil Zest the lemon as directed, but cut it in half instead of slicing it. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over high heat. Place the lemon halves in the skillet, cut-side down, and cook until they are charred, 2 to 3 minutes. Give them a squeeze over the bowl with the zest, then add them to the bowl (no need to cut them into slices) and proceed as directed above.