Making the homely celeriac bulb feel at home

It's easy to pass by the hairy, homely celeriac bulb, also known as celery root. It's probably the ugliest offering in the farmers' market.
Yet once you get beyond that leathery skin and those roots hairs, you get pure celery sweetness with a hint of fresh parsley. Plus you get hard to find potassium, Vitamin K, and Vitamin B6 along with lots of Vitamin C and crucial dietary fiber. And you get it all with absolutely no fat. This is a prize for getting to October. So be a winner and get some.
Here are a few tasty ways to treat it-- once you've peeled it, of course. Not saying that's easy...

Basic Mashed Celeriac
This is how I discovered the bulb: my French family always made mashed celeriac for their huge Christmas eve feast and served it with venison. It perfectly cut the rich gamey meat flavor with the look and feel of mashed potatoes but none of the calories or cholesterol. It was so memorable I took to carrying celeriac bulbs from fancy Manhattan markets every fall to mash them for Thanksgiving. They are perfect with roast turkey.
for 4-6 servings

1 lg celeriac bulb, peeled clean and washed
3-4 cups chicken broth, vegetable broth or water
1 tsp celery seed or flakes
pinch of salt
2 tbsp creme fraiche or sour cream

Do your best to chop the bulb into maximum 2" chunks. Put in a large saucepan and just barely cover with the broth/water.  Add the celery seed/flakes and salt. Bring to a boil, cover, lower heat and cook on low 30 minutes or until the chunks are very soft. Check from time to time that there is always liquid in the pot. To purée: if you have an immersion blender, drain off all but 1/4 c of the cooking liquid and whir to mash. Add the creme fraiche/sour cream and blend to a smooth consistency. Use a little more cooking liquid if you need it to do that. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to your taste and serve hot.
P.S. You can add celeriac mashed to mashed potatoes or cauliflower.

Celery Remoulade
This is another classic, common French dish: basically celeriac slaw.  

1 cup mayonnaise 
1 tbsp Dijon mustard 
1 tsp sea salt, plus more, to taste 
3 tbsp freshly-squeezed lemon juice 
freshly-ground black pepper 
1 lg (approx 2 lb) celery root
(the photo shows grated celeriac before dressing) 

Make the dressing first because celery root can discolor when it hits air. Mix together the mayonnaise, mustard, 1 tsp salt, lemon juice, and a few grinds of black pepper. Peel the celery root --you made need a good chef's knife,and grate it coarsely into match stick sized pieces. Mix the dressing with the celery root and taste, adding additional salt, pepper, mustard, and lemon juice, to adjust. Garnish with minced flat leaf parsley or chives. You can serve this to great effect with charcuterie, sausages or burgers.

Baked celeriac served with capers and smoked trout

This is from London, from famed chef Yotam Ottolenghi, for a first course or brunch with scrambled eggs.

1 medium celeriac, skin scrubbed but unpeeled, cut in half lengthwise
2 tbsp olive oil
4-5 thyme sprigs
Flaky sea salt and black pepper
1/3 c creme fraiche
1 1/2 tbsp fresh horseradish, peeled and finely grated (or prepared jarred horseradish)
2/3 lb sliced smoked trout or salmon, each slice cut into 1” wide strips
2 tsp lemon juice, to serve
For the salsa
1½ tbsp small capers (or normal capers, chopped)
1 tbsp parsley leaves, minced
2 tsp tarragon leaves, finely chopped  
1½ tbsp olive oil

Heat the oven to 350º. Put each celeriac half on a separate piece of foil large enough to wrap it in. Dribble a tablespoon of oil over each celeriac half, scatter the thyme and three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt on each half, and rub all over. Add a generous grind of pepper, then tightly wrap the celeriac halves in the foil. Bake for an hour, until soft, then unwrap and set aside for half an hour, until they come to room temperature.

Meanwhile, mix the creme fraiche and horseradish with a pinch of salt and a grind of pepper, then refrigerate. Mix the salsa ingredients in another bowl.

To serve, cut each celeriac half into four even wedges. Put two wedges on each serving plate and spoon over them some horseradish cream. Lay some fish strips on top and drizzle with salsa. Squeeze half a teaspoon of lemon juice over each portion and serve immediately.

Hearty Gratin of Potatoes, Celeriac and Ham

Serves 6-8

1 tbsp olive oil (you can use butter if you prefer)

1 small onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

2 cups heavy cream (you can substitute one cup of evaporated milk for one cup of cream but the final dish will be soupy)

½ tsp salt

½ tsp coarsely ground black pepper

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp dried rosemary

¼ tsp dried sage

pinch of ground cloves

1 ¼ lb baking potatoes, peeled and sliced into thin disks

1 medium celeriac (1lb), peeled and sliced into thin disks

1 large leek, sliced into thin disks and washed

1/2 lb baked ham, sliced thin

½ lb. Gruyere cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 375º and get out a baking pan approximately 11” x 7”. 

Heat the olive oil in a small sauté pan.  Add garlic and onion and sauté over medium heat about 3 minutes, until the onion starts to soften.  Remove from heat and add the salt, pepper and nutmeg.  Stir in the cream.

Spread the leeks evenly around the bottom of the baking dish. Don’t worry if there are gaps, just be sure they are uniformly around.  Cover the leeks with a layer of potatoes (half the potatoes). Sprinkle the rosemary over the potatoes, then sprinkle ½ cup of cheese. Add a layer of celeriac, using half of what you have and top it with a layer of ham slices. Sprinkle the sage and cloves around this layer,  then ½ cup cheese. Repeat a layer of potatoes and cheese, then a layer of ham and top with last layer of celeriac.

Pour the creamy onion mixture over everything as evenly as you can and bake for 30 minutes in convection or 35 minutes in a regular oven.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top and continue to bake another 12-15 minutes, or until the celeriac is tender and the cream seems to be solid. (It won’t be if you used evaporated milk.)  Remove from the oven and let it cool at least 5 minutes before serving.  You can sparingly add freshly chopped flat leaf parsley for color if you wish.

Seafood chowder with celeriac
serves 3

1 lg celeriac (about 1 1/2 lbs)
1/2 fresh lemon
1/2 lb pancetta
1 shallot
1 tbsp dried thyme leaves
2 lbs haddock
3 1/2 c  fish stock or vegetable broth
2-2 1/2 lbs clams
fresh flat leaf parsley for garnish

Peel the celeriac and get rid of all those root fibers. Coarsely grate it into match stick pieces and put in a bowl with lemon juice to prevent discoloring.  Peel, halve and roughly chop the onion. Cube the pancetta, removing any tough skin. Put it in a heavy bottom deep soup pot, turn the heat to medium and sweat the fat out of it to lube the pan. Add a tbsp of oil if you need to stop sticking.  Once the pancetta starts to turn golden, add grated celeriac and stir. Add the onion and thyme, stirring to blend. Cook until everything is soft, golden and aromatic--8-10 minutes. Trim the haddock into very large chunks and remove any skin. Push the onion mix to one side and gently lower the haddock pieces onto the other to lightly brown them. Turn carefully with a good spatula to brown the other side. Then pour in the stock/broth. Bring to a boil and immediately lower heat to simmer so the soup bubble gently. Simmer 5 minutes.Meanwhile scrub and inspect the clams, discarding any that don't shut. Add to the soup and cover the pot tightly with a lid. Check after 3 minutes. If the clams have opened, taste and adjust salt and pepper, then lade the soup into serving bowls. Garnish with minced parsley leaves.

Celeriac with buckwheat (kasha) and ham
serves 4

1 lg celeriac bulb, peeled and cubed
2 tbsp olive oil
4 sprigs of thyme or 1 tsp dried leaves
2 tbsp buckwheat groats (aka kasha)
1 1/2 tbsp butter
1 sm onion, peeled and sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced very thin
1 c chicken stock or vegetable broth
4 thin slices of air-dried ham or proscuitto, torn into pieces
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400º. Scatter half the cut celeriac over a roasting tray or baking sheet. Sprinkle over it 1 tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper. Sprinkle on the thyme and put the tray in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until celeriac is tender and starting to caramelize around the edges.

Meanwhile, toast the buckwheat by scattering it around a small baking sheet or pan and putting it in the same oven for 6-8 minutes. Remove promptly and cool.
Put a medium saucepan over low heat. Add half the butter and the remaining olive oil. When it's bubbling hot, add the onion and garlic. Cook gently for 5-6 minutes until soft and starting to brown at the edges.
Add the remaining celeriac to this pot. Season with salt and pepper. Pour over the stock, cover the pot and simmer on low heat 15-20 minutes, until the celeriac is tender. Add the remaining butter.
Using an immersion blender purée the contents of the pot to a smooth consistency. If you don't have one pour the contents into a blender or food processor and do the same. Taste for salt and adjust.

Spread the warm puree over a serving platter. Scatter the roasted celeriac chunks on top, sprinkle with the roasted buckwheat and top with the torn ham.