the cooked and the raw

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.