Rooting for Winter

Okay, I promised to try new things in this new year, so here's the first one I bought with my new resolution, celery root or celeriac.

First, I made the semi-successful salad I posted about yesterday. Now, I wanted to try roasting it since all roast veggies seem to be wunderbar and Morgan commented a few days back that celery root makes a nice mash, too, so I used one quarter to roast with our boneless leg of lamb and kept the other quarter out to boil for a mash.

Both were really delicious! The mash doesn't get as smooth as mashed potatoes, which I really rather liked; it keeps a bit of its integrity so the "mouth feel" is bumpy and interesting while the flavor is mild and a little sweet. I mashed it simply with a little butter, some half and half, and s&p - another time, I might add some broccoli to the mash for a little extra flavor.

The roast celery root was even better, I think partly because it was so easy. I just cut up small wedges of the celeriac and roasted them along with some Brussels sprouts and fingerling potatoes, lightly coated with olive oil, right in the same pan as the roast. They turned an appealing shade of golden brown on the edges and were even sweeter as the oven concentrated the flavor.

If you haven't ever tried celery root, you might enjoy adding it to your repertoire, too. It's pretty mild and non-threatening; I'm thinking it would make a really interesting soup, too.

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.