Sicilian Celery, Fennel and Olive Salad

The humble stalk of celery ....elevated to stardom. 🌟

During my recent Sicily trip, I spent a few mornings around the docks in Castellammare del Golfo, a fishing village that I was using as my base to explore western Sicily. All the restaurants along the water’s edge had gorgeous displays of locally caught fresh fish. On the days that I stayed in the village, my routine would be to wander down to the docks in the morning, shoot some photos of the fishing boats and fishermen (trying hard not to piss off any of the fishermen as I did on my first morning 😳 ), then find a rock along the water’s edge to catch my journal up on recent activities. Around mid-day, I would tuck into one of the restaurants for a nice looooong leisurely lunch.

My lunch was typically one of those beautiful fish, grilled and doused with lemon, along with an order of a crispy green salad and a glass of local white. At one of those restaurants, my fish arrived served with a simple-looking celery and fennel salad. Now, celery is quite possibly the world’s most underrated vegetable. I am totally guilty of turning my nose up at this humble vegetable.

But one bite of this delicious salad had me reaching for my pen and journal to take notes on this yummy combination. It was refreshing and crunchy, salty and sweet - a tangle of celery, fennel, green olives, and golden raisins with some chopped pistachios and parsley mixed in for good measure. It went on the ‘MAKE THIS RECIPE AT HOME’ list (which was growing shockingly long after only a few days in Sicily).

The humble celery (sedano in Italian), is about 95% water and has quite a few surprising nutritional qualities. It is potassium rich, is a wonderful source of electrolytes, and is known to have significant anti-inflammatory properties. Having this recipe in my arsenal will certainly make me eat more celery!

Sicilian Celery, Olive, and Fennel Salad

I love that the restaurant used the classic Sicilian combination of sweet and sour for their salad - the crispy celery and fennel against the bite of the briny green Castevetrano olives and the sweetness of the raisins. I have now made this a few times since I have been back at home. It has been part of an antipasto. I have served it as a side along with grilled fish or chicken. I have put it out as a snack with crackers when unexpected friends arrived. Super versatile!

Do not hesitate to play around with the ingredients. I subbed in chopped dates when I didn’t have raisins in the pantry. I added a lone crispy apple that needed to be used. And my fave addition - I added shaved Pecorino.

Be sure and use fresh, crispy celery for the recipe. This isn’t the recipe for the few stalks that have been hanging out in your refrigerator for a few weeks - use those in your next pot of stock. Try to buy a head of celery that has healthy outer stalks (not too woody) and absolutely save those celery leaves for garnish! Lastly, although you may be tempted to use already pitted olives, the fresh Castevetrano olives are key here. Just whack them on the side with a large knife or meat mallet and they are then super easy to pit. And having that ‘torn’ look is trendy. 😊

Click the button below to get the recipe:

or head on over to OurItalianTable.com! And let us know if you do make it!

And a RESTOCK alert…our bright and cheerful kitchen linens are *finally* back!

Our newest line of kitchen linens from Simple Day sold out in a flash. Their fresh and colorful hues make dish drying fun again (well, almost). It took a while to get these restocked but *finally* they are back!

These kitchen linens are designed in Italy and made using 100% soft stonewashed linen that washes beautifully and dries lint-free. AND they actually dry dishes. There is also a generous loop on the back corner for hanging!  We might as well smile as we dry that stack of dishes. 😊

To say grazie for waiting patiently, please use the code RESTOCK10 for a 10% discount on anything in our artisan shop. ❤️

Alla prossima!