Any ideas for celeriac?

[dexterdoglancashire]

Thanks for the lovely recipes wellie - can't wait to give them a go! DDL

[wellie]

Celeriac and Blue Cheese Soup

25g butter
1 medium onion, chopped
750g celeriac, peeled and cut into 2cm chunks
1 large baking potato, chopped
2 tblsps. chopped fresh sage leaves
600ml vegetable stock
300ml single cream
225g blue cheese, diced
fresh chives and deep-fried sage leaves to garnish
Serves 4

1. Melt the butter in a large pan and gently fry the veg and sage for 5 mins. Stir in the stock and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for 15 mins until the veg are tender.

2. Transfer to a food processor and whizz until smooth (I just whizz it with my cheaper imitation of a Bamix, directly in the saucepan, as it saves washing up!) Return the soup to the pan and stir in the single cream and half the blue cheese. Cook over a low heat until the cheese has melted, but do not allow to boil. Season to taste.
3. Divide the soup between serving bowls and sprinkle with the remaining blue cheese, the chives and deep-fried sage leaves, or not (!)

[dexterdoglancashire]

With your extensive knowledge and recipes of celeriac wellie maybe you ought to set up a "celeriac appreciation society"! DDL

[wellie]

DDL, it's not just Celeriac I have recipes for ! I'm a living/breathing appreciation society of any 'interestingly' cooked vegetable.....!!

[dexterdoglancashire]

Sounds good to me! Check out my recipes posted earlier - think you'd love the squash+carrot casserole (if you are a veggie) and if not, all the rest are excellent! Going to give yours a try when I get chance! Love swapping all these ideas on the vine - DDL

[wellie]

Will do DDL....
No I'm not Veggie, I eat all sorts of stuff. But I do love to help out with tasty recipe suggestions when people are in need of a little inspiration.
Not only that, it 'reacquaints' me with what I've not cooked for a while!

[Snadger]

Grew some celariac a few years back...didn't know what to do with it?....made soup...OK, I suppose!

Going to buy some celariac seeds tomorrow, sow them tomorrow, and grow some more this year!

I am enthused by these recipes!!!

PS Apart from that, it's a damm site easier to grow than celery and the slugs don't get it all!

[wellie]

EXCELLENT Snadger!

[Tigger]

When you make a celeriac mash 50/50 with potatoes, add butter, an egg, black pepper and some French mustard.

Heavenly.

They also make very good creamy soups - with cream, creme fraiche or marscapone - along with any other compatable veg, such as carrots, squashes, broccoli.

[pigletwillie]

The slugs might not Snadger but something chewed its way into mine this year. They looked great till I cut them open and they were riddled with holes.

[bloomingbethan]

backing up a little ss what is a dehydrator would love to know more

[Earthbabe]

Do a search for dehydrator bloomingbethan and that will bring it up.

[wellie]

LOVAGE RECIPE No. 1

As a follow-on to Piglet's thread for those wanting to grow Lovage, here's a recipe to take it into your kitchen next year.....

CELERIAC MASH WITH POTATOES, CELERY AND LOVAGE

This mash recipe comes from one of my favourite vegetarian recipe writers:
Catherine Mason.

1kg celeriac
a few drops of lemon juice
1 kg floury potatoes
5 or 6 stalks of celery
salt and freshly ground black pepper
about 15g butter
2 tblsps. finely chopped lovage leaves

Peel the celeriac and cut it into chunks, dropping them straight into acidulated water to prevent them from browning. Peel the potatoes and cut them into chunks about the same size as the celeriac. chop the celery quite finely.

Boil all the vegetables in sufficient salted water just to barely cover the vegatables for about 20 minutes until tender.

Drain, but save the cooking water, which will be a well-flavoured stock suitable for soup or risotto-making.

Mash the vegetables with a potato masher as thoroughly as you can manage, adding some butter and finely chopped lovage. Don't be tempted to put it in a food processor, as it will turn to nasty slime.

If the mash is too solid, thin with some of the cooking water, cream or milk, as you prefer. Taste, and add extra seasoning if needed.

The mash can either be served immediately just as it is, or placed in an oven-proof dish and baked for a time to brown the top. Run a fork thorough the top of the mash before baking to get crispy brown ridges.
Serves 6.

Wellie Note: I do all of the above, and then freeze it in useable quantities. That way, you preserve the flavour of the Lovage, when the herb has completely died down for the winter in the garden, and you've got a tasty Mash to hand whenever you need it.....

Next Recipe might be Dolcelatte, Leek & Lovage Sauce for Pasta, or it might be something else....!

[SarzWix]

You're a star Wellie, I was just wondering today what to do with my lovage, which is in desperate need of a haircut
I don't suppose you've any more where that came from?

[wellie]

In true Panto-stylie Sarzwix "Oh Yes I Have!", and it's spooky actually because I woke up this morning thinking that I must put more Lovage recipes up here.... Twiglet Zone, or what?!

I'm off to my CookBook Shelf right now. In order not confuse the thread, I'll start a new thread for each new Lovage recipe. And I must harvest the rest of my own Lovage before the end of the week, as Arctic Weather threatens for the weekend allegedly.