Midwinter Crunch

I'm not a huge salad lover at the best of times and midwinter is my nadir for salad consumption. I love the jumble of fresh ingredients in a summer salad but the same ingredients either taste lousy when not in season or just don't appeal to my taste buds when the weather is cool. So, when I saw a recipe for a salad using a wintery vegetable like celeriac, it piqued my interest.

I followed Molly's January 5th recipe over at Orangette, carefully julienning the crisp celery root and mixing the dressing, but somewhere along the way, I must have gone astray as mine just sort of laid there, instead of standing up and shouting from the plate.

The celeriac was satisfyingly crunchy but my sauce was too heavy and too much. Next time, I'd add much more lemon juice and increase the yogurt-to-mayo ratio strongly in favor of the yogurt, plus I'd add more Dijon mustard to the mix. It has the promise of a great winter salad, once I tweak the ingredients. Molly said, "to taste," and I should have followed that advice. Next time, my taste will be more lemony-lively-tangy-sassy to perk up this lovely winter salad.