Tasty Substitutions

As we head into summer, it’s the perfect time to make deli-style salads—potato salad, macaroni salad, egg salad, chicken salad, tuna salad, ham salad and seafood salad. Sure, they all have their own variations, but the ubiquitous ingredient in all them remains elusive and out of season at the market right now: celery.I don’t know about you, but it’s the fibrous crunch that makes for a good salad. After living near massive celery fields in southern California, I swore it off for years having seen how it is grown and harvested. Because of this, my deli salads fell out of favor.But one day while I was trimming up a bunch of fresh chard I looked down at the stems and the light went on. Would it work?Cubing and boiling up a handful of spuds, I chopped chard stems, onions and fresh parsley, mixed mayonnaise with mustard and diced up a few hard-boiled eggs. Before I knew it my favorite potato salad was ready to accompany a burger. There was little difference in both flavor and texture with the substitution. Onward I went through my standard recipes from when I slung scoopfuls in hinged take-out containers along with a sandwich and pickle for the harbor crowds. The best part was the practical year-round availability of chard.But under cooking, this substitution failed to hold up. With an affinity toward anything made with the Louisiana holy trinity of bell peppers, onions and celery or as the French would say, mirepoix, I’d find myself hunting down Certified Organic celery, often shamefully trimmed down to the stalks when I wanted to cook up a batch of red beans and rice or a vat of demi-glace.However, I soon discovered another worthy substitution: fennel bulb. A member of the carrot family, fennel imparted a soft anise flavor to the dishes requiring celery. Several vendors at market grow fennel which meant no more mad dashes into the dreaded grocery store produce isle.Once I made the switch, it seemed like fennel showed up in every recipe online and in print that caught my eye. It was time to give it a go in my salads.For the uninitiated, a fennel bulb is much more fibrous than celery and must be shaved or minced. If not, let’s just say that could be unintended digestive consequences. Kind of like making dolmas with fresh grape leaves without blanching them in hot water first. The stalks and fronds are less fibrous and are equally edible as the bulb when it comes to flavor.Each time I pick up fennel and walk through the market I’m given a new idea of how to use it from other vendors and customers.“I stuff my fish with the fronds.”“Roasted fennel on the grill is the best.”“Shaved in a salad with grapefruit supremes and fresh mint.”“The tops make the best pesto.”While the culinary ideas are endless, fennel also has an incredible use I’ve seen over the years with teething children. A cold fennel bulb offers multiple stalks—just the perfect size to fit into a tiny mouth—that can quickly sooth a baby’s gums with its subtle numbing ability. Simply take the bulb apart at the stems and offer it to the child to chew. It’s easy for them to hold and won’t leave a crumbly sludge on everything like a hard cracker or require constant sanitizing like a silicon ring. And you can still use the fronds and stalks for cooking!If you’re not going to eat the stalks and fronds, at least add them to flower arrangements as an aromatic filler. They are as beautiful as they are tasty.