How To Make Alex Guarnaschelli's Green Salad

Salad is a staple of many peoples' diets. According to one recent poll of 2,000 Americans, the average respondent said they eat salad three times a week (via Study Finds). That's about 150 salads a year, and if you're just eating iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and cucumbers with store bought dressing, it's time to branch out. "Iron Chef" Alex Guarnaschelli, the chef at New York restaurant Butter and the host of the new Food Network show "Alex vs America" has the antidote for your salad boredom: A crunchy celery, green apple, cucumber, and dill salad that she recently shared on Instagram.

The refreshing dish is made with eight to 10 peeled celery stalks sliced thinly, 1/2 of a large English cucumber peeled and diced small, and a green apple, also diced small. The fruit and veggie mixtures is tossed with chopped fresh dill, and is seasoned with Kosher salt, sugar, extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, and lemon zest. The whole salad is mixed together in one big bowl, so you don't have to dirty a separate vessel to make the dressing, and though the recipe comes from an "Iron Chef," it's simple enough for a home cook to make. Guarnaschelli's fans on Instagram were eating it up.

Fans were drooling over Alex Guarnaschelli's salad

So far, Guarnaschelli's post has gathered almost 11,000 likes, including some from her Food Network co-stars, like Sunny Anderson from "The Kitchen." Another "The Kitchen" co-star, Katie Lee Biegel, chimed in with a comment on Guarnaschelli's post, saying, "Celery is so under appreciated," to which Guarnaschelli replied, "And it's hard to grow! It deserves more respect."

Some fans did have questions about how to make the recipe. "When you say 'peeled' celery, do you mean removing the long fibers that run the length of the stalk?" Another commenter said she has "never once in her life peeled celery," and wondered, "Should I have done this every time I made a salad?" Guarnaschelli explained that the celery should be "peeled like a carrot," but also said that "there is no celery police – just try it." Overall, though, most commenters seemed to simply want to express their appreciation of the recipe: "This looks amazing! I'm gonna make it!!"