Celery & Chickpea Salad ♥
A captivating salad, a simple lemony mix of crunchy celery (extra points for celery with leaves!) and creamy chickpeas, held together with a touch of feta. Perfect for a light spring lunch or supper but also, garnished with tomato and avocado, makes an impressive platter for a potluck or dish to share. Very spring-y! Weight Watchers Friendly. Naturally Gluten Free.
Short story here. It was the day before Thanksgiving circa mid 2000s. I was up to my elbows in green beans and pie crust but took a break to check email. "Get it RIGHT!" shouted a local reader of Kitchen Parade, then still published in print in my hometown newspaper. "Your last recipe," she wrote, "called for a stalk of celery. Unless you mean the whole damn bunch, it's a celery rib not a celery stalk!" Okay, then. Happy Thanksgiving to you too, ma'am.
But she was right! So I thanked her for the correction and wished her a very happy Thanksgiving. (And also felt a real sadness for her, that on the day before Thanksgiving, my misuse of celery terms was top of mind.) Is it any wonder that all these years later, I still think of this woman every time I cut up a stalk – or wait, a rib – of celery. So just to be clear:
A STALK of CELERY That's the whole head, some times it's called a celery bunch.
A RIB of CELERY is one of the individual pieces you pull off a head or stalk or bunch of celery.
Except? Lots of food writers didn't get the same email! So it's common to find recipes, even in big magazines, that call for "2 stalks of celery" – it's a safe bet that unless the recipe is for something like Cream of Celery Soup, what's meant is "2 ribs of celery".
For the record, this salad calls for four ribs, not four stalks! Bonus points if the celery still has its leaves!
This recipe is so quick and easy that I'm adding it to a growing collection of easy summer recipes published all summer long ever since 2009 at Kitchen Parade, my food column. With a free Kitchen Parade e-mail subscription, you'll never miss a one!
RECIPE for CELERY & CHICKPEA SALAD
Hands-on time: 25 minutes
Time to table: 25 minutes
Makes about 5 cups
Time to table: 25 minutes
Makes about 5 cups
To avoid a watery salad, rinse and drain the chickpeas before making the vinaigrette. But then do go ahead and mix up the vinaigrette, that way, the salad ingredients can be dropped right into the salad bowl to soak a bit while preparation continues. It's the small things, often!
LEMON VINAIGRETTE
Zest of a lemon (don't skip this!)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard or another good mustard
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons good olive oil
Salt & pepper (be generous!)
SALAD STUFF
1 15-ounce (425g) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
4 ribs celery, trimmed and sliced thin on the diagonal (about 300g)
1 cup celery leaves, chopped fine (or about 1/2 cup parsley works well too)
2 green onions, white and green parts both, chopped fine
2 ounces (57g) feta, crumbled
OTHER ADD-INS, OPTIONAL
1 ear corn (a nice summery addition, How to Cut Corn Off the Cob: Keeping All Ten Fingers, Capturing Every Delicious Kernel and Every Drop of Sweet Corn "Milk")
Sun-dried tomatoes, minced
Mini peppers, sliced thin
TOPPINGS, OPTIONAL
Sunflower seeds
Avocado slices, for garnish
Tomato wedges, for garnish
LEMON VINAIGRETTE In a bowl large enough to hold the entire salad, whisk all ingredients except the olive oil, then whisk it in too until the vinaigrette begins to emulsify. Season to taste: do be generous, remember you're seasoning a lot of vegetables!
SALAD STUFF Prep the vegetables, stirring them into the Lemon Vinaigrette as they're prepped. Add any Add-Ins, then stir well. Transfer to a serving bowl or platter and sprinkle or garnish with any Toppings.
MAKE-AHEAD Definitely! Make the salad up to a day ahead, though if it were me, I would probably stir in a bit more feta right before serving, just to freshen it up a little.
ALANNA'S TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES
NO CELERY LEAVES? Darn the grocery-store produce people! They chop off the tender celery leaves, they do tend to deteriorate first, even when the celery ribs themselves last for a long while in the fridge, especially when stored in their original bags. It's the reason I watch specially for celery bunches that still have their leaves, knowing that the bitter leaves will soon be on a salad plate! But don't stress if your celery has no leaves,
BIG BAGS OF CELERY On occasion, I'll buy a sealed bag of celery from Sam's Club or Trader Joe's. This celery will never have leaves and it's good for cooking but really, isn't wonderful for fresh salads. To my taste, it's just not fresh enough.
MELTING GARLIC To help the garlic to almost melt into salads, I've been grating cloves with a microplane, the same one I use for lemon zest. At first, I worried that the garlic flavor wouldn't wash off completely, ruining future lemon zest. So far, no problem! I do rinse it well just after grating the garlic though.
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MORE FAVORITE CELERY RECIPES
~ Celery & Apple Salad ~~ Celery Salad with Dates & Walnuts ~
~ Cream of Celery Soup ~
~ more celery recipes ~
from A Veggie Venture
SEASONAL EATING: THIS SAME WEEK ACROSS THE YEARS
Green Beans with Basil Beet Röesti Acorn Squash Stuffed with Quinoa & Cherries Zucchini Mushroom Hominy Tacos (<<< Meatless Monday staple) Cream of Dandelion Soup English Peas with Fresh Mint How to Cook Artichokes in the Microwave (<<< Pinterest loves it!) Edamame in the Shell Greek Bread Salad with Toasted Pita Chips (<<< this week's healthy favorite!) Bourbon-Glazed Roasted Carrots Savory Muffins with Sweet Potato & Feta How To Steam Broccoli (Step-by-Step Photos) Kale Recipes Thomas the Tank Engine Vegetable TrainsA Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the
famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.
© Copyright Kitchen Parade 2018
famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.
© Copyright Kitchen Parade 2018
A trick I learned, from Cooks Illustrated, I think, is to add just a 1/4 teaspoon of mayo to your vinaigrette. The lecithin in the mayo holds the oil and vinegar from separating. The little bit of mayo has no impact on the taste.
ReplyDeleteLee ~ Great tip! I can think of several dressings that a tablespoon of mayo would make for a nice change -- and cheap and easy, good things both!
ReplyDeleteAlanna, I love the things you put out and I love celery salads. Just thought you’d be interested - Celery is a few cents short of $6.00 here in southern Ontario, Canada. Someone said it is because everyone is juicing and that there is a shortage.
ReplyDeleteBarbara-Helen, Oh my! I’m betting there’s no celery salad or celery soup in your future!
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