Celery Salad with Chevre Goat Cheese

A bit of chevre goat cheese sweetens the fresh taste of celery. Sugar and salt soften the celery, peppers, and onions featured in this salad, but keeps them crisp, juicy, and tender. Lemon, cilantro, and parsley make this salad sing with brightness. And, a serrano pepper adds a little heat to balance the sweetness and tartness of the other ingredients. For me, this salad is like eating something that screams flavor. It is truly, honestly, no kidding, the most refreshing salad imaginable. It is a perfect salad to kick off summer.

I am growing celery, peppers, cilantro, and parsley in my garden so I’ll make this salad through the summer and fall. I don’t think I will ever get enough of it. Make it tonight and join in my new obsession.

This makes enough for four small salads. I double the recipe and reserve half the salad for the next day because it stays wonderful. I don’t add the goat cheese until I am ready to serve the salad.

Gather up the following and get to work!

• 8 celery stalks (4 cups), thinly sliced on the diagonal, save and set aside the leaves

• 1 yellow pepper, halved, seeded, and cut lengthwise into strips 1/4-inch wide

• 1 orange pepper, halved, seeded, and cut lengthwise into strips 1/4-inch wide

• 1 serrano chili pepper, seeded and very finely sliced

• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced (1 1/2 cups)

• 1 teaspoon super fine sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 4 lemons

• 1/2 cup celery leaves (if you have them)

• 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves

• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves

• 4 tablespoons capers

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 7 ounces of chevre goat cheese, broken into 3/4 inch chunks

• salt and black pepper

Put the celery, hot and sweet peppers, and onions in a bowl. Sprinkle the vegetables with the sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and mix well. Let the vegetables sweat for half an hour to allow them to soften and create a juice that will become part of the dressing.

This next part takes a bit of time but is fun and worth the time. If you don’t have the patience you can juice one lemon and set aside, but try to section at least two lemons! If you get going you will section the four lemons in no time. To section the lemons, use a small, sharp knife. Cut the ends off the lemon until you see the fruit. Now, cut the skin and white pith off the lemon. Finally cut between the membrane of each slice and remove the pulpy section. Make sure to remove the seeds. Set the sections aside in a small bowl.

After the veggies have softened, add the lemon sections, celery leaves, parsely, cilantro, capers, olive oil, and some black pepper to the celery mixture. Mix gently to combine.

Just before you are ready to serve the salad, plate it and sprinkle each plate with chevre. You can also crumble the chevre on top of the salad after placing it on a platter or in a bowl for family style serving.

I modified this salad from a recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi, but my version is better if I do say so myself.