I have never been a celery fan. Especially NOT of those celery sticks served with ranch dip that appear at almost every party table. What makes it worse is it’s often obviously store-bought, with wilted edges. There it is keeping company with the pretend baby carrots that look dry as a bone, AND [...]]]>

I have never been a celery fan. Especially NOT of those celery sticks served with ranch dip that appear at almost every party table. What makes it worse is it’s often obviously store-bought, with wilted edges. There it is keeping company with the pretend baby carrots that look dry as a bone, AND the half-yellowing broccoli florets that don’t even look washed. Ranch doesn’t really do anything for celery — and I suspect people eat the raw veggies just for the sake of being able to say “I ate something ‘healthy’” while actually indulging in the ranch dip, which is just about the only tasty thing in that sectioned black plastic tray. Ugh. Someone should ban those from the party foods section at the supermarket already.

I *do* love celery cooked. Of course, as one of the required aromatics in a stew or soup. I’ve also, on occasion, enjoyed Julia Child’s butter-braised celery, but it seems I’m the only person in the family that does, so nix that. Celery also HAS to be in Filipino pancit and chop suey, but it is fantastic in this Szechwan celery-chicken stir fry.

Enter this crunchy, buttery salad — based on one from Melissa Clark. Her version has dates, but I’m picky about dates as well, and don’t like them in a salad, so I just left them out. I confess to buying celery now just so I can make this salad as often as I can. Heh, it helps that I have an excuse to hog it too — as most of my family either dislike walnuts or are allergic to it.

The freshest stalks from a whole celery (I save the outer ones for soup), rinsed and sliced thinly on the diagonal — use the leaves too if you like
A handful of walnuts toasted in a 350-degree F oven (or toaster — but be careful not to burn them!) for 7-10 minutes, or until fragrant and JUST beginning to turn color, chopped
juice of half a lemon
tablespoon or so extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
shavings of Pecorino, Grana Padano or Parmigiano

That’s it! Toss in a bowl and eat! You’ll be thankful you tried it.

1 medium head romaine lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces, rinsed and spun dry
1/2 English cucumber or any waxless cucumber, deseeded if necessary
4 ribs celery hearts, leaves discarded if you like, sliced thinly (leave unpeeled)

the dressing, whisk all in a bowl:

~1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
juice of [...]]]>

1 medium head romaine lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces, rinsed and spun dry
1/2 English cucumber or any waxless cucumber, deseeded if necessary
4 ribs celery hearts, leaves discarded if you like, sliced thinly (leave unpeeled)

the dressing, whisk all in a bowl:

~1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon
4 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper if you like (I didn’t use any)

Toss together and enjoy!

It’s not picture perfect, and I wish I could say I grew the basil that went into the pesto, and the tomatoes… but no. It was still perfectly yummy, and what’s important, it’s all mine — well, except for a couple of bites Paco took. My little ones don’t like this particular salad, dad’s [...]]]>

It’s not picture perfect, and I wish I could say I grew the basil that went into the pesto, and the tomatoes… but no. It was still perfectly yummy, and what’s important, it’s all mine — well, except for a couple of bites Paco took. My little ones don’t like this particular salad, dad’s allergic to cheese, and Aisa’s sensitive to cheese and didn’t want to try.

The fresh buffalo mozzarella is from EuroPomella Italy, imported by Mozzarella Fresca in California, and locally available at Jungle Jim’s.

I made a batch of pesto, so I’ll be having the rest of that maybe with some penne, chopped up tomato and chopped up rest-of-the-mozzarella tonight. Yum. The baby should like it

I’m not too fond of most Asian-style salads, because I find some things are usually “off” or the combination of tastes just screams WRONG! This is one exception to the rule.

1 package baby spinach, washed and spun dry
2 cups large shrimp, steamed, peeled and deveined
1 large ripe mango (Champagne [...]]]>

I’m not too fond of most Asian-style salads, because I find some things are usually “off” or the combination of tastes just screams WRONG! This is one exception to the rule.

1 package baby spinach, washed and spun dry
2 cups large shrimp, steamed, peeled and deveined
1 large ripe mango (Champagne mango if you can find it is best), peeled, de-seeded and cut into 1/3-inch slices
1/4 cup red onion, sliced thinly
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon grated zest and 3 tablespoons juice from 1 orage
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/4 cup canola oil, expeller-pressed preferred
1 tablespoon sesame oil

Place spinach, shrimp, and mango slices in a large bowl. Set aside.
In a small non-reactive bowl, macerate onion slices in 1 tablesoon rice wine vinegar for 5 minutes.
Whisk orange zest, orange juice, ginger and remaining vinegar, as well as salt and pepper to taste, in a small bowl. Whisk oils in until emulsified.
Add onion slices to salad bowl. Pour dressing over salad; toss and serve immediately.

a repost of a recipe I wrote for aboutweblogs.com/asianfood, aka noodlesandrice.com

Toss everything in a bowl. Fast, easy, and healthy, you can serve this as a salad or a light craving-food-in-between-meals snack. You can also just run the celery root and carrots [...]]]> 1/2 cup julienned celery root
1/2 cup julienned carrots
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
pinch of sugar

Toss everything in a bowl. Fast, easy, and healthy, you can serve this as a salad or a light craving-food-in-between-meals snack. You can also just run the celery root and carrots using the shredder attachment of your food processor. What could be simpler?