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Posted on Feb 16, 2012

From the CSA Box: Pureed Celeriac with Roasted Garlic

As I’ve mentioned on here before. Andrew and I are members of a local CSA.  The winter share arrives every two weeks and lately we’ve been getting quite a few root vegetables, onions, garlic, and greens from the greenhouse. I thought it would be worthwhile to occasionally feature an item from our CSA box, particularly the more unique ones (you know, that weird/ugly/inedible-looking vegetable that shows up and you think, I’m supposed to eat that?)

So here’s installment one of From the CSA Box, featuring celeriac.

Sometimes this little beauty is called celery root though stalk celery comes from a different (related) plant.

It’s knobby and burly and, frankly, kind of hideous.

But underneath that rough exterior hides a delicious root vegetable, capable of holding its own among the giants of the root world such as potatoes, carrots and parsnips. This ugly duckling also wins bonus points for being low-cal and low-starch.

This recipe requires only a few ingredients and is a perfect way to enjoy that bumpy little ball rolling around in the back of your CSA crate.

Puréed Celeriac with Roasted Garlic

inspired by this recipe

Materials

Roasted Garlic

  • garlic bulb (4-5 cloves)
  • teaspoon olive oil

Celeriac Purée

  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • 3 cups peeled & diced celeriac (~ 3 roots)
  • 2-3 teaspoons almond milk

 

Methods

Roasted Garlic

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Peel outer papery layer off of garlic bulb (don’t peel all the way down to the flesh).

* Go ahead and roast several bulbs of garlic if you have them; this is perfectly yummy smeared on bread of tossed into practically any savory dish.

Slice off the stem end so that the tips of each clove are exposed.

Drizzle with oil and wrap up in aluminum foil.

Cook for ~ 1 hour and remove from oven.

 Celeriac

1. Peel the knobby skin from each root using a paring knife (unless of course you have a really amazing potato peeler…which I don’t).

2. Dice.

3. Lightly coat a pan with olive oil and bring to medium heat. Add in celeriac and cook for ~5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Add water to cover (2-3 cups) and toss in thyme.

Cook at a gentle boil for ~ 20-25 minutes until fork tender.

5. Add celeriac to your handy dandy food processor along with roasted garlic, almond milk and the tiniest bit of olive oil.

Process until smooth.

 

6. Plate up: serve as a winning side dish with anything you like!

Results & Conclusions

 

Celeriac has a unique flavor – think mild celery with a hint of parsley. I’m the first to admit that I am not a big celery fan. I still shudder to recall an especially terrible soup served at a friend’s house when I was six years old that I politely gagged down. I’m pretty sure the soup was composed entirely of mostly raw celery and onion – two foods that remained my arch nemeses until well into my twenties.

But never fear, friends. This dish will not instill a lifelong fear of celery-flavored foods. Far from it. In fact, it is quite lovely and provides a refreshing change-up from the old stand-by of mashed potatoes.

Thyme complements the inherent flavor of celery wonderfully, with roasted garlic rounding out the flavor.

Enjoy!

 

 

1 Comment

  1. Sounds and looks yummy!

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