Make Ahead

Shaved Celery and Fennel Salad

by:
March 13, 2012
4.8
4 Ratings
Shaved Celery and Fennel Salad
Photo by James Ransom
  • Serves 4
Author Notes

I eat some version of this salad every day for lunch, but this is the version that I make for special occasions. When possible, I get celery for this recipe from the farmer's market. It's thinner, greener and leafier than your average grocery store celery, with an intense celery flavor. I'm addicted. The toasted celery seeds and hazelnuts work well with the cool vegetables. I add slices of blue cheese or avocado slices to the salad for my lunch or serve it as is as a side to roast chicken or fish. —maryvelasquez

Test Kitchen Notes

This salad is great for winter or spring entertaining. Use a mandoline to get a very thin slice for the celery, radishes and fennel. The toasted spices and hazlenuts with the sherry-shallot vinaigrette create a spicy flavor you've never had with any other salad! I like a combination of both Dijon and grain mustard in the vinaigrette. —cratecooking

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • Shaved Celery and Fennel Salad
  • 1 bulb fennel
  • 4 stalks celery (at least one per person) with some of the leaves
  • 6 large radishes
  • 1 head butter lettuce
  • 1/3 cup whole toasted hazelnuts
  • 1 teaspoon celery seeds
  • 1 teaspoon peppercorns
  • 1 teaspoon coarse salt
  • Shallot-Sherry Vinaigrette
  • 1 shallot, chopped
  • 1/4 cup good olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon mustard, dijon, whole grain, any kind really
  • salt, to taste
Directions
  1. Core the fennel bulb and trim the celery stalks and radishes. Slice the fennel, celery and radishes as thinly as you like. I use the 1 mm blade of the food processor when cooking for a crowd.
  2. Gently pull the lettuce up into bite-sized pieces and add to a shallow bowl with the fennel, celery and radishes.
  3. Heat a small skillet until very hot. Add the celery seed and peppercorns and remove from heat. Toss the ingredients a little; they should be toasty and fragrant.
  4. Using a mortar and pestle, crush the celery seeds, peppercorns and coarse salt until grainy and well combined. Add the hazelnuts and crush lightly, just until they break into halves.
  5. Combine the chopped shallot, sherry vinegar, olive oil and mustard in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Add salt to taste.
  6. Drizzle the shallot-sherry vinaigrette over the salad and toss. Season the salad with the toasted celery-seed peppercorn salt and hazelnuts. You won't need all of it. Taste to correct. Enjoy!
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12 Reviews

delicia.sampson.7
delicia.sampson.7 April 3, 2021
Made this last night - used the recipe as a platform to dive off of as I was out of celery and did not have celery seed! The method is wonderful though. For the seasoning I toasted fennel seeds with the black pepper and toasted pecans ( using what I had on hand) The dressing is classic and stuck to it. I added arugula and endive to the shaved fennel and radishes. Oh yeah, and a little feta cheese. Delicious!
 
Suzi1
Suzi1 March 4, 2021
as a bit vague i can be - however is the celery and fennel shaved longitudinally or cross wise? looks like longways in the pic.... want to do this salad soon. Ta da and thank you
 
KareK
KareK July 20, 2019
Thank you for the recipe! Delicious and refreshing on a hot day! I used walnuts instead of hazelnuts because that was what I had and added a hard boiled egg for extra protein for a summer main course.
 
capers
capers June 14, 2015
Yum. Made this last night and I'm back online today so I can send the link to one of my dinner guests!
 
drh
drh October 24, 2014
Thanks so much! I'll be at the market first thing tomorrow with my list. Can't wait to try this!!
 
drh
drh October 24, 2014
My family will just not touch radishes, but this salad looks divine. Can they be left out? Would this totally ruin the salad, or is there something I could substitute for their unnecessary dread of the innocent radish?
 
maryvelasquez
maryvelasquez October 24, 2014
Radishes can be left out. There is plenty of crunch without them. I mostly love them for their color.
 
Sally H.
Sally H. March 30, 2014
This salad was a refreshing perfect follow-up to https://food52.com/recipes/8578-short-rib-ragu - I added a couple of blood oranges.
 
ihaventpoisonedyouyet
ihaventpoisonedyouyet February 25, 2014
My daughter told me about this recipe and boy, am I glad that she did. The textures are great, there's a little bit of a bite from the radishes (used psychedelic radishes once for extra zip) and it's a great salad with just about anything. More work than I usually go through, but so worth it.
 
maryvelasquez
maryvelasquez March 2, 2014
Thanks for the nice feedback. It's a good time of year for these ingredients, no?
 
Barbara
Barbara January 27, 2014
A winning salad. We loved it. The hazelnuts were a nice touch
 
Dave.
Dave. April 10, 2012
I've had this salad many times. It's delicious!