Apple celery walnut salad

It’s been exactly a month since my mom, sil & nephew flew back home to India and I already miss them like crazy. The 1 month felt so good and my heart was full. I love my family to bits and my nephew is obviously very very special to me. To see Adya and Athu bond was a totally different feeling. They played/ ate/ slept pretty much together. They also fought of course and that was cute to watch too :). Once they were playing the doctor game and Athu was asking Adya to show his heart and Adya obliged :). Made me realise that it literally is that simple for kids to show their hearts and be pure and so true to their identities and somewhere amidst that, they grow up and start putting up a facade just like the rest of us! Sad but true ain’t it?

Anywho, back to talking about food.. I love the addition of Celery in soups and when I am in my major soup phase, I usually always have celery handy at home. However, for a good 2-3 cups of soup, all you need a small stalk of celery or half a large stalk. I used to buy these stalks in bulk and ended up wasting them quite a bit. However, over the years I have figured that I don’t need to buy an entire celery bunch and that I can actually pick a few; and that I can use celery in more than just soups :). I also started making vegetable stock at home recently and use it in that as well. However, this salad right here is something I absolutely love and it amazes me as to how few ingredients are there in the dish but create a perfect harmony with each other that I savour this dish even more each time I have it just for the mere fact that I’m amazed and mind blown :).

When my sil was here, she literally saw me throw this together in 5 mins for brekkie for the 2 of us and she loved it so much. It’s filling and flavourful and a great way to start your day. The flavour of each ingredient balance each other so well.

On a side note, the pic above contains the head band/ ear muffler types that my sil knitted for me which I absolutely love and wanted to capture as a part of this pic! She’s really good at knitting and does it so effortlessly. She’ll be talking/ watching tv but her hands will continue to knit. I love watching her do that.

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Apple celery walnut salad

Prep Time

5 mins

 

Course: Breakfast, Salad, Sides

Cuisine: International

Servings: 1 person

Ingredients

• 1 medium firm apple
• 1 stalk celery few leaves if its there
• 1.5 tsp dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp olive oil
• a pinch salt
• a crack fresh black pepper
• 5 nos roughly broken walnuts garnish/ crunch/ fats

Instructions

1. Wash apple and celery. Remove the apple peels & the core. Chop it into small square pieces. Place it in a bowl.

2. Chop the celery into similar small squares (Discard the part close to the root). Chop the celery leaves as well. Add this to the bowl as well.

3. Just top all the seasonings on to the bowl – 1.5t dijon mustard, 1/2t apple cider vinegar, 1/2t olive oil, a pinch salt, a crack of fresh black pepper powder.

4. If you plan on having this immediately, add 5 roughly chopped walnuts as well at this stage.

5. Mix everything together. Check & adjust salt/ seasoning as per your taste.

6. You can prep this in advance (say the previous night) and refrigerate it in an airtight container. If you are doing this, add the walnuts right before you have it so the nut will be crunchy.

7. Yenjoy this easy breezy lemon squeezy kinda brilliant salad which can really cheer up your day!

Recipe Notes

1. I love how simple seasoning ingredients like dijon mustard can elevate a salad or a sandwich. I love how the dijon mustard’s tart/ sharp taste cuts through the apple’s sweetness. 
2. I usually buy a bunch of celery stalks and use it in my soups/ salads. I get bored when I use celery only a certain way. So I try and use it in a variety and that seems to do the trick for me from being bored of that ingredient :). 
3. It’s a simple salad right where you could just cut up some apple and celery. But adding that little bit of dijon, little bit of vinegar, walnuts for crunch etc just takes the dish to a different level (my sil & my mom can vouch for this). 
4. Though this takes only 5 mins, if you don’t seem to have even that much time, just chop apple & celery into bigger chunks though trust me, this tastes better when the pieces are cut small & cute :). 
5. As with most of my salads, I like to prep this before not just because it saves time in the morning but also because I feel the flavours all get nice & settled over time (better than when you have it immediately. This could totally just be in my head though). 

Stepwise pictures