Recipes: Back to our roots

Published on 08/01/2009 10:12

One of the many plus points of our winters is the number of root vegetables we can buy. Each, in its own way, is so delicious, so versatile, and they provide us with wonderful variations of flavour. Celeriac is an odd-looking root, but it has a unique flavour. Probably better known in the form of celeriac remoulade, a recipe for this delicious salad follows, yet celeriac is much more widely useful than just in a salad.

Marcello Tully, our head chef, makes a heavenly soup combining celeriac with blue cheese. And I love my celeriac mousse, which I like to serve warm, with curried croutons and parsley dressing. Celeriac, boiled with potatoes (half and half) and then mashed, makes a good covering for a fish pie. As with all root vegetables, chunks of peeled celeriac roast deliciously, and this makes an excellent accompaniment for fish or meat dishes.

WARM CELERIAC MOUSSE

WITH PINENUTS, CURRIED CROUTONS AND PARSLEY DRESSING

SERVES 6

For the mousse:

1lb/450g celeriac, weighed when peeled and cut into chunks

a thumb-sized sprig of thyme

3 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

about 15 grinds of the peppermill

a good grating of nutmeg

3/4 pint/425ml single cream

butter, for rubbing around the ramekins

2oz/55g finely grated Parmesan cheese – for dusting the ramekins

3oz/85g pinenuts

For the croutons:

3 slices of medium thick white bread

2oz/56g butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons medium-strength (or mild) curry powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

For the dressing:

4 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon caster sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

about 15 grinds of the peppermill

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 heaped tablespoons finely chopped parsley

Put the celeriac chunks into a steamer with the thyme sprig. Steam till the celeriac is tender. Cool. Remove the thyme and throw it away.

Put the soft chunks of celeriac into a food processor and whiz, adding the eggs, one by one, and the seasonings, and lastly, briefly whiz in the single cream. Scrape this mixture into a measuring jug – this makes the distribution of the mixture so much less messy.

Thoroughly butter each of the six ramekins, then dust each with grated Parmesan.

Pour the celeriac mixture into each prepared ramekin, dividing it equally between them. Put the ramekins containing the mixture into a roasting tin, and pour near-boiling water around them, halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake in a moderate heat, 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 until the mousses feel firm when gently pressed in their centres. Take the roasting tin from the oven, cover with a cloth and leave to sit for at least 15 minutes. To serve, run a knife around the inside of each ramekin, turn upside down and shake gently, and the warm mousses should slip onto each of the warmed plates. Scatter around the toasted pinenuts and curried croutons, and, with a spoon, drizzle the parsley dressing around each mousse. This dressing consists mostly of parsley and not only tastes good but also contributes necessary colour.

To prepare the pinenuts, put them into a non-stick frying pan and dry fry them over moderate heat, shaking the pan occasionally, until the pinenuts toast evenly golden brown. Cool them in the pan, then store them in a screw-topped jar when quite cold.

To make the croutons, slice the crusts from the bread. Stack the crustless slices and, carefully, slice them into thin strips. Turn them around and then slice them the other way, leaving you with small, even-sized diced bread.

Melt the butter and heat with the olive oil in a large non-stick saut pan. Add the curry powder and salt and mix it thoroughly through the butter and oil. When flaming hot, add the diced bread and, over a fairly high heat, stir and fry until the dice are evenly crisp. Put three thicknesses of kitchen paper onto a wide dish or board, and scoop the croutons on to this, to cool and for the paper to absorb excess buttery oil. When quite cooled, store the croutons in an air-tight container. Before serving, tip them onto a baking tray and spread them evenly. Warm up the croutons for up to an hour in a low-temperature oven.

To make the dressing, mix the olive oil into the sugar, salt and pepper and mix in the lemon juice. Add the finely chopped parsley. Mix all very well.

CELERIAC AND BLUE CHEESE SOUP

SERVES 6

2 tablespoons olive oil plus 1oz/28g butter

2 onions, skinned and chopped

1 head of celeriac, weighing, when peeled, approx 1lb/450g

11/2 pints/850ml stock – the better the stock, the better will be the soup

4oz/110g blue cheese (I prefer Dunsyre Blue, though any will do)

a grating of nutmeg

salt, according to your taste (the blue cheese will contribute a certain amount of saltiness)

about 20 grinds of black pepper

1 heaped tablespoon finely chopped parsley

Heat the olive oil and melt the butter together in a saucepan, and fry the chopped onions until transparent-looking and beginning to turn golden brown at their edges.

Meanwhile, chop the peeled celeriac into chunks as even in size as possible, and fairly small. Add them to the chopped onions in the saucepan, and stir well together. Cook, over a fairly gentle heat, for about ten minutes, stirring frequently. Then pour in the stock, bring the liquid to simmering point, half cover the pan with its lid and simmer until the pieces of celeriac are completely soft and squishable with the back of your wooden spoon against the side of the pan. Stir in the blue cheese, cut into bits. Draw the pan off the heat, cool a bit, and blend the contents to a silky smoothness. Add a grating of nutmeg and the pepper to the soup, stir well.

Taste, and add salt if you think it is needed. Reheat gently, and stir the finely chopped parsley through the soup just before serving.

Celeriac Remoulade

This is good as a salad starter.

SERVES 6

11/2 celeriac heads

a bowl of cold water containing the juice of 1/2 lemon

For the mayonnaise:

1 egg plus 1 yolk

1 teaspoon caster sugar

1 teaspoon salt

about 20 grinds of black pepper

2 teaspoons best-quality Dijon mustard

just less than 1/2 pint/285ml olive oil

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

3 tablespoons milk

Slice the skin from the celeriac and slice it into fine and neat julienne strips, or dice neatly. As the celeriac is sliced or diced, put it into the lemon juice and water.

Have ready a steamer, water bubbling below, and when all the celeriac is prepared drain off its soaking water and put the celeriac into the steamer. Steam for 2-3 minutes, then remove and cool.

Make the mayonnaise by breaking the egg into the food processor, and add the yolk. Add the sugar, salt and pepper and the Dijon mustard. Whiz, adding the olive oil, drop by drop until you have an emulsion, then add the oil in a thin, steady trickle. When all the oil is added, add the wine vinegar, and then scrape the mayonnaise into a bowl, and, with a fork or a flat whisk, mix in the milk.

Once the celeriac has cooled, mix it and the mayonnaise together thoroughly. Serve by the spoonful, or packed into a scone-cutter, which you then carefully lift off, to give a neat little castle of the celeriac remoulade.