the cooked and the raw

This combination of celeriac, apple and cabbage sounds wintery but fresh at the same time… You can probably substitute the celeriac with celery for an even fresher result. I really loved this salad…like any other dish featuring that fabulous root vegetable also known as celeriac! To make this salad I chose organic vegetables (…the apple is organic, too) and organic soy cream.

Ingredients (makes 4 servings):

For the salad

1 small celeriac, peeled

1 green apple, peeled and cored

1 small white cabbage

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

For the dessing

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

½ teaspoon powdered, dried mint

whole sea salt (to taste)

ground black pepper (to taste)

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons unsweetened soy cream

Dressing

In a bowl, whisk the olive oil, soy cream (rawists might want to replace this with 4 teaspoons almond butter, mixed with 2 teaspoons water to reach a thinner texture), lemon juice and apple vinegar together, then add the dried mint and season with black pepper and sea salt. Stir and set aside.

Salad

Shred the apple and the celeriac using the large holes of a box grater. Transfer the shreds in to a bowl and stir in the lemon juice to prevent the apple and celeriac from turning brown. Thinly slice the cabbage and add it to the apple and celeriac. Toast the walnuts in a pan for 2 to 3 minutes (rawists can certainly ignore this step!). Add the dressing and the walnuts to the salad and toss gently to combine. 

I used to hate seitan, I thought it was too spongy. Now I love it, because I’ve improved my seitan cooking skills and I know how to prepare it. I’ve also learned to appreciate its sponginess. It’s precisely the sponginess that makes seitan special, as this gluten meat absorbs perfectly all the flavours and aromas of the ingredients it’s cooked with…

Ingredients (makes 4-6 servings):

1 white onion, finely chopped

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

6 carrots, sliced into rounds

1 small-sized celeriac, peeled and cut into cubes

½ medium-sized white cabbage, shredded

½ cup of warm water plus another ½ cup of warm water

1 teaspoon dried powdered lemongrass

1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger

½ teaspoon dried powdered ginger

2 tablespoons chopped chives, preferably fresh

300 g seitan, cut in small chunks

whole sea salt (to taste)

Heat the oil in a stew pan over medium heat. Add the onion, lemongrass and ginger and sauté until onion is soft and transparent. Add ½ cup of warm water and throw in the carrots. Cook for 5 minutes and stir in the celeriac. Cook for another 5 minutes then add the seitan chunks and the white cabbage. Add another ½ cup of warm water, a pinch of salt and cook over low heat for about 15-25 more minutes until vegetables are tenderish and all the liquid is absorbed. While the stew is cooking, you might need to add some more water a little bit at a time to avoid sticking to the pan. Add the chives, season with another tiny pinch of salt, stir and serve.

I can’t live without celeriac. I would eat it all the time. It’s good raw, added to a salad or eaten on its own, and it’s great when used as main ingredient in soups and stews. Anyone who likes celery and parsley, will love celeriac. Some people bake it, enjoying the inner flesh once the skin has been removed…I haven’t tried it this way yet! The other day I made some mashed celeriac which I ended up having on its own, although it can accompany almost anything that is vegetarian (tofu, seitan, tempeh) or non-vegetarian (I don’t know about meat as I haven’t eaten any in 13 years…and didn’t know celeriac at the time, but I guess it can be a delicious companion to almost any kind of fish). This is my own recipe… I just thought that as I can mash potatoes I might as well venture into the world of mashed celeriac! For this recipe I used one medium-sized organic celeriac.

Ingredients (makes 4 servings):

1 medium-sized celeriac

1 cup unsweetened soy milk

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

whole sea salt (to taste)

black pepper (to taste)

ground nutmeg

Peel the celeriac, cut it into medium even-sized chunks and put them in a steamer fitted over a large saucepan filled with water (4 cups should be enough), sprinkle some salt over them, put a lid on and steam the celeriac until it’s tender (it should take 25-30 minutes). You can tell if it’s ready by piercing it with a fork: we don’t want it to be too watery. Remove the celeriac from the steamer, drain off the remaining water, and mash with a potato masher or fork until fluffy (I would not suggest an electric beater). Return the mashed celeriac to the saucepan, add the soy milk, olive oil and lemon juice and stir over medium heat until thickened. Taste and add sea salt, if necessary. Transfer it to your serving dish and season with a few drops of olive oil, black pepper, and freshly ground nutmeg, to your taste.