Celery Root Is the Key to This Fresh and Vibrant Sweet
In a month that was just a lousy one for a social austerity , January certainly won’t bring a lot of bright, brightly grammatical fresh produce to the market. There’s a certain beauty to the inside of red cabbage or romanesco cabbage, but overall, winter vegetables aren’t much to look at. Celery Root – Celery if you’re chic is by far the ugliest of them all, and it’s also my favorite root vegetable of all time. What charms are hidden under his filthy, gnarled hide? Let’s figure it out!
If you can believe it, celery root is the root of the celery plant. Like most North American root crops, it is harvested after the first frost and stored throughout the winter. Thanks to this newfangled thing called “global warming,” our first frosts came quite late this year, which may explain why I found two gorgeous fresh celery roots with stems and leaves in my local Whole Foods store in early January. (I had planned to explore the year-round farmers market in Rittenhouse Square for truly seasonal, local produce, but a bomb cyclone forced it to close.) They are hard to find outside of farmers markets, CSA and grocery stores. with a vast selection of products, so keep that in mind as you track them. Choose celery roots that are heavy for their size and are pitted; any attached stems or leaves should look fresh, not wilted or slimy. You will never find perfectly smooth specimens, but plump roots with relatively tight skin will be easier to peel than shriveled and shriveled roots.
Depending on your taste, celery root tastes either a nuttier, sweeter, earthier version of celery stalks, or a softer parsnip with a touch of celery. If you take away its tough appearance, you can see the ivory pulp with a texture that is completely different from other root vegetables, which are harsh and crunchy when raw. Even fresh celery root does not have a characteristic pop; it is softer and more flexible, both literally and figuratively. Imagine a soft apple like McIntosh or Golden Delicious, but no grain at all. It’s something like this mixed with the slightly fibrous structure of the parsnip.
The unique texture of celery root is suitable for any preparation you may add to it. I whipped it with potatoes for a delicious mashed potato , sautéed whole , chopped and caramelized in brown oil, peeled for pancakes, and added the trimmings to chicken broth – but my favorite way is to eat raw celery root. One of my super powers towin friends over with lettuce , and this one – celery root with strips and apples mixed with shallots, fresh hella and addictive honey-garlic dijonnaise – is central to my origin story. I have never brought it in without having received at least three prescription requests, usually from people who were deeply skeptical about it before the first bite.
Celery root and apple juice
I have eaten celery root cooked this way for seventeen years, which is how long my mom gets a box of Roxbury CSA. The year 2000 brought such a harvest of celery root that the lovely folks at Roxbury made a recipe for a raw salad with strange, knobby tubers. As with all top recipes, the easy way to quickly ditch a few pounds of celery root has become a family favorite. I no longer have the original recipe, so this is my own (very accurate!) Adaptation – I just use a little more parsley, salt and mayonnaise.
As written, it serves four sides or two main courses. There will be an additional bandage that is intentional; The harvested salad will get wet and sad after 2 days, but the dressing lasts for more than a week. Use leftovers on another batch of that cane or any sad, lingering salad greens to eat.
Ingredients:
For refueling
- ½ cup mayonnaise (or vegan mayonnaise)
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 garlic clove, peeled
- 1 tablespoon honey, plus more to taste (maple syrup or brown sugar works too)
- 1 tablespoon smooth Dijon mustard, plus more to taste
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt (use a little less table salt or a little more kosher salt, depending on what you have)
- Lots of freshly ground black pepper
For salad
- ½ shallots
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 large celery root weighing between 1 and 1 lb., thoroughly washed and dried
- 1 large apple of any kind (except Red Delicious, which are trash)
- 1 cup chopped fresh parsley, celery leaves, or a mixture of both
- Salt and pepper for flavor
Instructions:
Refuel first. Combine all ingredients except the pepper in a bowl or soup container and beat with a blender until smooth. (You can also use a regular blender or food processor here.) Try and add more mustard, honey, and / or salt as needed. This salad should be as light as possible, so make sure you season it aggressively . When you’re happy with the overall seasoning, add plenty of black pepper and stir to mix. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside while you prepare the salad.
Chop half of the shallots finely and place in a medium bowl. Season with a pinch of salt and lemon juice; stir to connect.
Then peel the celery root and cut it into strips. Cut off all the downy roots and trim off the top, then place on a cutting board, root down. Using a sharp knife rather than a peeler that can’t do the job, make vertical cuts along the sides to remove the hard skin. Follow the curves as best you can, but don’t worry if you end up with something weird and incomprehensible. Check for brown pieces and cut them off.
Place the root on the flattest cut surface and slice it into thin (⅛ ”) planks. (If you have one, mandolin works great here.) Take a pile of planks, stack them neatly on top of each other, then cut into small julienne. Add to bowl with shallots and stir to coat with lemon juice. Repeat until you run out of celery root.
To make the apple a julienne, make four shallow, vertical cuts on the outside to remove some of the skin and cut off some of it. Discard these slices – or eat them as a small snack – then make vertical cuts to cut the apple into thin (⅛ ”) planks. When you hit the core, turn the apple 90º and continue; repeat until you have chopped up the whole apple. Place the boards back on top of each other and cut into small julienne. Add to bowl and stir to coat.
Add fresh chopped herbs to a bowl, stir and pour over a third to half of the dressing. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if necessary. Stir well, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours to dissolve the aromas.
You can serve it with just about anything, although I think it works best as a foil for something super rich. My mom usually serves this with fried pork tenderloin, and I have been known to put it on pork sandwiches or fried sausages. For vegetarians, a good accompaniment will be Pommes Anna , baked pasta and cheese, or mushroom bourguignon . Hateful January sinus golems are breaking into our house at the moment, so we served the carcass next to a giant bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup.
On the other hand, you can always direct my stepfather and park in front of the TV with your personal bowl to mix that dumbass and fork. Every salad is a main dish, if you try very hard and believe in yourself.