If you read my last post you know that we have been getting a good portion of our food supply delivered. Admittedly, a few of those were extravagant purchases; aka caviar and lobster, which we repeated for our New Year’s treat. So, now as I return from cloud 9 and settle back to the reality of creatively nourishing ourselves I offer up a solution for when you have an abundance of one item, and lack of others. The ongoing practice of: Use What You Got.
As I mentioned in that post, there are some items I get from Restaurant Depot and those come in amounts that are way more than what 2 people can easily consume. To be honest, it’s way more than a family of 10 can consume. I hate wasting food ever, but even more so in these times. And so I started using some items in ways I never have before. Like celery. I typically have only used this raw in salads or diced fine as part of a mirepoix (for soups, or sauces). But since we had so much, and were lacking in some other produce areas, I starting sautéing it as the main vegetable. i know this isn’t revoluntionary but how many of you only cut up celery as your side? Not me, but I must say I quite like it.
Given that I had so much I’ve used it before if you recall in my post entitled; 5 Ingredients- 4 Different Dishes.
But on two nights in a row I really went to town using celery for both meals. The first night I used celery stalks, plus whatever straggler veggies I had. Then I sautéed some shrimp, made my Ba-Ba-Basil-ed Potatoes and had a complete meal.
After using up everything the night before, I only had celery and onion for the next meal, and so that truly made celery the star. I topped it with sautéd fish and a scallion basil sauce.
When celery is cut on long diagonal it make a more substantial base.
I am only listing ingredients, not amounts, because this is one of those times that calls for using what you have in the amounts you have. I encourage you to use all your senses to judge how much you want to incorporate. The more you use this skill the sharper it will become. And then there will be a time when you just know how much of an ingredient to add. i know that some of you are already quite skilled at this.
Ingredients
Meal #1 Celery/Onion Sauté with Grilled Shrimp
Celery, sliced
Onions, thinly sliced
Bell Pepper, I had an orange one, use whatever you have
String Beans, sliced on diagonal
Shrimp
Basil-ed Potatoes
For this celery meal, I used a wok for a stir fry effect. Starting with the onions and celery first, then adding the string beans and orange pepper.
I removed those and used the same pan to stir fry the shrimp, which were salted, peppered first.
I had made my Basil-ed potatoes earlier, and then plated it all up.
Although I added a few extra items, celery was the main veg. Since neither the orange pepper or the string beans were enough to make a complete side dish, but enough to beef up the celery and round the whole dish out. Those were the straggler veggies I had. You can do this with a few asparagus, or an extra carrot, whatever you have.
Meal #2 Celery/Onion Saute with grilled Salmon & Halibut
Celery, sliced on the long diagonal
Onions, thinly sliced
Scallions, thinly sliced
Magic 3 (Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper)
Salmon
Halibut
For the Sauce
Scallions
Basil
Olive Oil, Salt & Pepper
Onion, celery and scallions sautéing.
Instructions
Simply slice the vegetables as mentioned above. I used a cast iron skillet for this version.
I sautéd the celery, onion and scallion in olive oil, salt and pepper until tender but still with a good firm texture. Then removed the vegetables and used the same pan to grill the fish.
Salt and pepper the fish on both sides and get a good sear before flipping.
I made a simple salsa for the fish using scallions, basil, salt, pepper and olive oil and buzzing it in a mini processor.
The second meal was pretty similar, minus the orange pepper and string beans. But cutting the celery on that extra long diagonal made them a heartier vegetable able to stand on its own.
I quite enjoyed the large amounts of celery. I think the celery also enjoyed stepping out from behind the curtains of its usual supporting player and taking on the leading role in this movie of the week. Who knew celery could be more that a filler. Now I do.
