Alison Roman’s Celery Salad With Anchovy
4
- Prep Time10 min
- Total Time15 min
- Makes4 servings
I am shocked by the number of people who feel comfortable letting me know they don’t like celery. It’s (proudly) one of my top five favorite vegetables (have you not had a celery stick with peanut butter?), unrivaled in refreshing crunchiness and mild yet present “green” flavor. I keep it around for snacking, for adding to soup or stock, and most importantly, for very quick and extremely gratifying salads like this one.
While the bulk here is, of course, celery, this perfect little salad also has anchovies, garlic, pickled peppers, and vinegar. It’s a little (but not too) spicy and—as the name indicates—salty. Eat it on its own with poached chicken breast for lunch, or with an open can of tuna and a pile of saltine crackers. Point being: Celery salads are marvelous little chameleons, welcomed on every table for nearly any occasion, not to be underestimated.
Ingredients
4 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
¼ cup pickled peppers (pepperoncini or guindilla), finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely grated
2 tbsp brine from the peppers (or white wine vinegar, sherry vinegar, or fresh lemon juice), plus more
6 celery stalks, thinly sliced on a bias (leaves reserved)
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2–4 cups salad greens, such as mizuna, arugula, even perky parsley leaves
A good handful of salty, crumbly cheese, such as Parmesan, pecorino, cheddar, or even a blue (optional)
Instructions
Combine the anchovies, peppers, garlic, and brine (or vinegar) in a large bowl. Add the celery, toss to coat, and season with salt, pepper, and more brine if you want. It’s nice to let this marinate a bit before adding the salad greens.
When ready to serve, toss with the greens, adding any celery leaves you’ve held on to. Top with or mix in the cheese, if you’re doing that, and serve, topped with a bit more cracked pepper.
Find more delicious recipes from Alison Roman’s Something From Nothing, plus a decadent holiday feast from Nothing Fancy.
Something from Nothing copyright © 2025 by Alison Roman. Photographs copyright © 2025 by Chris Bernabeo. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Excerpted with permission from the publisher.
Alison Roman is a New York–based cook, writer and author of the New York Times bestselling cookbooks Nothing Fancy, Dining In, Sweet Enough and Something From Nothing. She writes the newsletter titled A Newsletter, hosts the cooking show Home Movies on YouTube and runs First Bloom, a corner store in Bloomville, New York,
