Céleri Rémoulade

The general appearance of celeriac doesn't inspire much confidence in it being tasty, and even less so if you consider eating it raw. Nevertheless, the most popular dish using celeriac (céleri-rave in French) does indeed use raw, grated celeriac.

Don't be fooled into thinking that this is diet food though. This is a dish to which cream is added in order to make it lighter (!!) and easier to digest (!!!) It is tremendously popular in France, but I don't think many people bother to make it themselves. Most people buy it from their trusted local charcutière traiteur (delicatessen). If you do make it at home, it's not just a matter of grating some celeriac and coating it with mayonnaise. There's a trick to getting the deli style céleri rémoulade, as Ken explains in his blog. David Lebovitz has a recipe and discusses the tricks to making it on his blog too.

 I make it like this:

Make a mayonnaise by putting a whole egg and an egg yolk in a jug. Add a dollop of prepared mustard and some salt. Using a hand held blender, whiz the egg and mustard together, then start blending in a thin drizzle of olive oil until you have about two thirds of a cup of mayo. Then switch oils and add some sunflower oil in the same manner, until you have about a cup and a half of mayo. Next tip in a pot of thick cream (I use the 40% fat raw cultured cream I buy from my laitière) and whiz that around until it is all blended in.

Now peel the celeriac. I find the easiest approach is to slice off the outer layer with a chefs' knife, like I would for pumpkin. Cut the peeled root into big chunks and grate it to medium shreds. If you are grating by hand, as I do, since I don't own a food processor, it is a good idea to do it in stages and coat the celeriac with the mayonnaise as you finish grating each chunk. That way it doesn't discolour. Once you've grated all the celeriac, add more mayonnaise if you think it needs it. For an average sized celery root, about the size of a small melon, you will need to use about half the mayo you've made (use the rest on warm potato salad...).

Céleri rémoulade (at the back) as part of a mixed plate of salads.

The vegetable may be ugly, but it is aromatic (smelling of celery) and in a salad adds a crisp texture and a distinctly nutty flavour note. And homemade céleri rémoulade is quick, cheap and easy.

Yum

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A la cuisine hier: Wine Glazed Baby Pears, poached and coated in a red wine syrup flavoured with a few slices of ginger root, a cinnamon stick, lemon wedges and a vanilla pod, served with homemade custard.