Celeriac

I keep seeing Celeriac all over FoodTV lately.



The other day at the grocery store, on one of the little end shelves in the produce department, there were several celeriacs. (weird... my spell check doesn't like the plural version!) Celeriac, also known as Celery Root sounded like a fabulous fall food! I grabbed three!



What to make?

This is my own little personal cooking challenge. Find a new ingredient and use it.
(I still have a challenging bag of Chana Dal waiting to be made into something!)

I found a Tyler Florence recipe that sounded like the perfect dish!

Celery Root and Potato Mash with Horseradish
2 celery roots (about 1 1/2 pounds each), peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
I needed 3 celery roots to get to 3 pounds
3 pounds baking potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt, plus kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, for seasoning
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon grated fresh or prepared horseradish
I used 2 HEAPING tablespoons horseradish
Chopped fresh chives, for garnish
Extra-virgin olive oil

Place the celery root and potatoes in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water; add a teaspoon of salt. Bring to boil over medium heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until the celery root and potatoes are very tender. Drain the water from the vegetables and pass them through a food mill or a ricer into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the cream, butter, and horseradish until the cream is absorbed and the mixture is smooth. Season with kosher salt and pepper and garnish with chopped chives. Drizzle with a healthy dose of olive oil and serve.

Ok.... first to peel the celeriacs/celery roots.

They are hard gnarly things!


This part was NOT easy. I don't own and have never really used a paring knife; however, I think it was definitely the tool I needed for this task.



First I cut off the top... it kinda reminded me of a pineapple.

I tried using a veggie peeler. Sometimes it worked ok, on slightly smoother sections. I was afraid of cutting them down to nothing with Tippy (my favorite chef knife) Also Tippy ironically has no tip... which made digging out little weird parts not so easy.

So I peeled and hacked and scraped...


Ewww... the bottoms of the root part have gnarly coarse hair like a coconut!




Finally... peeled and cut into cubes.


Raw, it tastes kind of nutty and celery-y


And into the pot with the much easier to peel and cut potatoes.


Let me just add... the recipe calls for celeriac & potatoes to be cut to the same size. But you really need to cut the celeriac much smaller than the potatoes, because it took MUCH longer to get tender.

Drain the veggies. I don't have a food mill or a ricer so I tried to hand-mash them.



Add butter, cream and horseradish.


I enjoy hand-mashed potatoes. I like some lumps. But the celeriac is a different texture, so I used the handmixer.


There were still some lumps but much smaller.

That's it!

Garnish with Olive Oil & Chives


Even though I had a lot of trouble preparing this, with the peeling and the mashing, I really loved the texture. It was very creamy, with some soft pleasant lumps.

The flavor was awesome! Even with all of the extra horseradish, it wasn't over powering at all. It was creamy, celery-y, buttery, nutty with a bit of the kick from the horseradish! Total YUM! Jon really liked it too!

I served it with Pork Tenderloin and Roasted Broccoli.


Bob of course, didn't even try it. Tawny doesn't like celery. Since she slept through dinner, she didn't know what it was. To look at it, it just looks like mashed potatoes. So I heated up a plate for her when she woke up. I did mention there was horseradish and she likes that. She took one bite and looked at me. Then asked what it was. I told her Mashed Celeriac & Potatoes with Horseradish. I thought if I didn't say 'celery root' she might not be instantly put off. She replied, "Celery Ass??!!!!" YUCK!!!!!!!!! I said no... celerIAC... Ok... not a winner in Tawny's book. But she doesn't like celery and it really does have a strong celery flavor. (She did LOVE the pork tenderloin, even though every time I tell her I'm making it, she's says she doesn't. She always likes roasted broccoli)

I did love this, but probably won't make it again, unless we're having company or I cut down the recipe drastically, because this makes a lot.

I think I'd like to try celeriac roasted or maybe in a stew next!

Oh yeah...

Dear Santa,
I've been very very good this year. And I know I said that I didn't want anymore knives for Christmas, but I think I've changed my mind and would really really love a 6in Wusthof Classic Chef Knife and a 3in Wusthof Classic Paring Knife. Please browse through my blog and let me know what kind of cookies you'd like me to leave out.
Love,

Individual Potato Gratins ala Spryte ~ BakeSpace Coast to Coast Cooking

The other day on the daily dinner thread over at BakeSpace, Michele (from My Italian Grandmother) said she was making Melissa D'Arabian's dinner from The Next Food Network Star season finale. She also posted a link to the recipes. When I watched that episode, I was thinking I'd like to make the potatoes. Who doesn't like cheesy potatoes? Everyone should like them. But I still had no clue what I was making for dinner. (oh and for the record, I think Jeffrey Saad should have won!!)

Danielle (from Cooking for my Peace of Mind) had some chicken thawing, but also no idea what to do with it.

Then Michele suggested she make the 4 Step Chicken from the same episode and that they should both make it. Danielle loved the idea and suggested they also blog about it on the same day.

Well... I read that and thought, "Hey!!! I wanna play too!!!!" And at about the same time Shane (from Culinary Alchemy) said he wanted to play too!

It's on! We're all cooking food from that episode and blogging about it on the same day!

BakeSpace Coast to Coast Challenge!!

So here's my version of Melissa D'Arabian's 5 Minute Individual Potato Gratins.

First... why are they called '5 Minute'?? The prep time is 15 minutes and the baking time is 40 minutes! Maybe 5 minutes to gobble them up?? I dunno.

Anyway... this is my version. =)

Individual Potato Gratins ala Spryte
2 large russet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
3/4 C sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
2 TBLS chopped fresh chives
2 TBLS light sour cream
2% milk to make 3/4 C when added to the sour cream
worcestershire sauce, a couple shakes
yellow mustard, a good squirt
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 400F
Whisk together milk & sour cream.
Whisk in worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt and pepper.
Spray 6 large size muffin tins with cooking spray.
Layer potatoes, shredded cheese and chives into each cup and repeat. This should pretty much fill one tray.
Pour milk mixture evenly into each cup. Cover muffin tray with foil and bake 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 20 minutes.
Gently slide a butter knife around the edge of each cup to loosen the potatoes.
Turn gratins out onto a plate.
Enjoy!

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Yeah... I peeled an extra potato that I didn't need.


A couple tablespoons of sour cream & enough milk to make 3/4 cup


A couple shakes of Worcestershire & some yellow mustard


And salt & pepper


Layer the potatoes in the greased muffin cups.


Sprinkle in cheese & chives


Repeat


Top off with cheese & chives


Pour milk mixture evenly into each cup


Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes in preheated oven.


Remove foil and bake 20 more minutes.


Now they're golden with yummy crispy edges


You definitely want to run a knife around the edges of these.




Now your little Individual Cheesy Potato side dishes are ready!


So my version was great! We really loved it and I'll definitely be making it again!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

But now you have to go check it out Coast to Coast ~ BakeSpace Style!

Here's Michele's ~ Cookin' it in New Jersey:

Click HERE to read about Michele's version.

And Danielle's ~ Cookin' it in California:

Click HERE to read about Danielle's versions.

And Shane's ~ Cookin' it in California:

Click HERE to read about Shanes' versions.

Don't those all look great??!!!

We have a lot of fun over at BakeSpace. Come cook with us!!!

Hiatus, a Cookover & some Potato Salad

Hi! Remember me?

I guess I've been on an unscheduled hiatus.

I've been a little busy... but then when I wasn't busy, I was busy being lazy!

I think I'm back now. There's still been stuff going on in my kitchen, mixed with lots of FFY (Fend For Yourself) days!

Sooo... where to start...

I was going to post about the first official BakeSpace Cookover.

What's a Cookover you ask? It's when you get together with your foodie friends to cook!

I got to meet some fun foodies & food bloggers that I've been chatting with for over a year! Not to mention I got to cook in Karen's DREAM KITCHEN for 2 days!



Michele & DD from BakeSpace have already posted about it and I'm just going to let you read their blogs. Hopefully you're already familiar with both of them. But if not, check out Michele's post over at My Italian Grandmother and DD's at DDpies's Slice. You can also read about it in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

It was so much fun meeting everyone! It was like we were all old friends, even though it was the first time actually 'meeting' for most of us!

I also want to say again... Thank you Thank you Thank you to Karen for hosting us all at your lovely home!!

So that accounted for one busy weekend... followed by a lazy week, that ended with 4th of July.

While the actual 4th of July was very busy for me... it was an extra long, extra lazy weekend otherwise!

For me, it's not the 4th of July without Mum's Potato Salad.

Actually... I think she learned to make if from Nana (dad's mum). Anyway... Mum makes it for cookouts! I don't know if she still does... but 25 years ago, she always did!

And she usually put it in her big yellow Pryex bowl.



Remember those? I can only remember my mum having the green one and the yellow one. Mum... did you have the whole set? I wonder if she really 'reads' my blog or just kinda skims through it. I guess I'll find out!

Anyway. It's really just basic Potato Salad. And I do make it a little different from mum.

This time I cut 3 pounds of baby Yukon Gold potatoes into bite sized pieces. I left the skins on, since they're so thin. Then boiled until just tender.


Rinse them in cold water to stop the cooking process.

Hard boiled and chopped half a dozen eggs.


Throw in some diced onion.


This is where I stray from Mum's version. I add some chopped dill pickle.


Add some salt & pepper, mayo & mustard.


Toss until well mixed and sprinkle with smoked paprika.


Basic Potato Salad... that has graced the picnic tables of millions of Americans for countless cookouts.

I added dill pickle. Maybe you like black olives... or some crunchy celery... I like yellow mustard... maybe you want to use or brown or dijon.

Anyway... I like it basic... and it's a MUST for the 4th of July!

Hope you had a great weekend and spent it with friends and family!

More cookout food coming up... stay tuned!