Monday 5 October 2009

Celeriac - because you're worth it.




Summer is full of photoshoot-perfect food, isn't it? All those beautiful mediterranean vegetables - glossy black aubergines, little red cherry tomato jewels, verdant green peppers - all polished and shiny, all bursting with the healthy good looks of something developed at the Laboratoire Garnier.


Now we're moving into the autumn its almost a relief to see the imperfect, knobbly fruits of harvest festival season. There's a rustic, back-to-school charm to the root vegetables, the squash, pumpkin and gourd. And I'm always pleased to see the scruffy, turnipy-looking celeriac. It's a funny fellow, the celeriac, looks totally alien but tastes fresh and delicious especially when grated finely in the starring role of a celeriac remoulade.  In the recipe below I mixed a little freshly grated horseradish (again, no beauty but provides amazing taste and mustardy heat) into the mixture and served it for lunch with some good sourdough, a handful of rocket and a peppered mackerel fillet - see photo above.

No retouching required.


Celeriac remoulade 

  • Half a celeriac - washed, peeled and finely grated. 
  • 3 tablespoons of creme fraiche 
  • 1 tablespoon of grain mustard 
  • An inch of peeled and finely grated horseradish  
Just mix all of the above together and season to taste. This is enough for 2 good dollops for a mackerel lunch and a little leftover for ham sandwiches the next day.