Dates are a Charleston chef’s sleeper ingredient to marry flavors in his iconic celery salad
When Jason Stanhope was brainstorming the recipe for his now-famous celery salad at Lowland in Charleston, he’d been inspired by celery salads at other restaurants, among them James London’s Chubby Fish and The Four Horseman in Brooklyn. However, in Stanhope’s version, “dates were a nonnegotiable,” he says. “In other cultures where dates are this godly fruit, in our culture they’ve strangely flown under the radar.” He started with four ingredients—dates, celery, walnuts, and cheese—and the goal was “to figure out how to make those four ingredients sing. We wanted it to feel like more than just a lean vegetable salad. If you are going to commit to a bowl of celery, you should have something luxurious to keep you engaged.”
In this salad, Stanhope blends the rich sweetness of dates with the salinity of lightly blanched celery, an approachable domestic aged cheddar with elements of crystallization (he likes Prairie Breeze), and moderate acidity from the sherry vinaigrette, plus a bright pop of mint, to create a dish whose whole is greater than the sum of its parts. With their meaty texture and their own light crystallization, “the dates are the unsung hero,” Stanhope says, “the bridge between all these ingredients.” As it all comes together, he adds, “there is this umami, rich, savory quality. There’s so many opportunities for the food lover to craft that perfect bite.”
celery salad 
yields
Serves 6-8
1 head celery
4 cups walnuts
1 bunch mint
2½ cups pitted dates, sliced into ½-inch pieces
½ cup Sherry Vinaigrette, divided (recipe follows)
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups Prairie Breeze cheddar (or sub your favorite aged cheddar)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Makes 1 pint
2 tablespoons minced shallot
2 teaspoons dijon mustard (Stanhope uses Maille)
1 cup canola oil
½ cup sherry vinegar
Ingredients:
For the Sherry Vinaigrette
Special Equipment: Ice bath
steps
Make the Sherry Vinaigrette
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk ingredients to combine. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Make the Celery Salad
- Remove celery heart and yellow leaves; chop and set aside for garnish. Wash outer stalks of celery, and chop into ½-inch pieces. Bring a small pot of slightly salted water to a boil; add celery and blanch for 1 minute. Remove celery from boiling water and immediately shock in a prepared ice bath. Drain and dry celery well. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spread walnuts on a baking sheet and toast for 15 minutes. While walnuts are toasting, roughly chop mint.
- In a large bowl, combine mint, celery, walnuts, and dates, and season with salt and fresh cracked pepper. Add 2 tablespoons of vinaigrette, toss, and taste; adjust seasoning as needed, adding up to ½ cup of vinaigrette
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Emily Havener
Emily Havener enjoys writing about food almost as much as she enjoys eating it. She has been food blogging and developing recipes since 2008, and her particular areas of expertise are finding creative ways to use leftovers and never making a recipe the same way twice. She’s always up for raw fish of any kind and a good gin cocktail or a glass of orange wine.
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