Celeriac

The following appeared in the Herald on Feb 5th last

Celeriac is one peculiar looking vegetable – it looks little like a large white turnip with a terrible skin disease.

Celeriac is a type of celery grown for its root rather than for its stems and leaves and tastes fantastic at this time of year – a winter highlight. It is relatively low in calories (half that of potato) and tastes (unsurprisingly) of celery, albeit with the texture of potato.

Cookbooks tell you to peel a celeriac like a potato but I find it easier to diagonally slice off the gnarly root end and then slice it in rounds and cut or peel off the outer skin.

Treat the celeriac like any root vegetable – once peeled it can be blanched for 5-8 minutes in boiling salted water and served with a knob of butter.

Alternatively, cube it and braise it in a covered saucepan in a little butter on a low heat for 20 minutes, or cook finely chopped with a little stock until soft and then buzz to make a purée (add cream and butter if you want to make it richer).

For Celeriac croquettes; mix cooked mashed celeriac with mashed potato (half and half) and an egg yolk (1 egg yolk per 250g) and then roll in breadcrumbs, and deep fry.

My favourite thing to do with this veg however, is to make soup:

Celeriac Soup with Garlic Cheese Croutons

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Fry a finely chopped medium onion in 50g butter for 30 seconds in a large saucepan. Add 200g of peeled diced potato and 500g of peeled diced Celeriac and stir for 30 seconds.

Allow to cook with the lid on for at least 20 minutes at a low heat, stirring or shaking occasionally to prevent the veg. from sticking.

Next add 600ml Stock (veg. or chicken) and 200ml Milk and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Buzz the soup with a stick blender or push it through a sieve.

For the croutons: toast 12 x 2cm slices of French bread (use the grill) and rub each with a cut clove of garlic. Next mix 50g grated gruyere cheese with 1 egg yolk, spread the cheese egg mix on the rounds of toast and grill until sizzling. Serve the croutons floating in the soup or on the side.