December: Celeriac

Celeriac, the root bulb of celery, has a distinctive subtle celery-flavour. If you’ve never tried it because it looks weird and you don’t know how to prepare it, read this and buy one tonight! Celeriac is fantastically versatile and is an under-rated vegetable.

Key facts:

· Only 42kcal per 100g

· Good source of dietary fibre

· Rich source of vitamin C, vitamin K, and potassium

· Good source of calcium and iron and B vitamins

How to cook

Celeriac can be eaten either cooked or raw. It’s a popular salad addition when grated. It’s a great vegetable to buy as it doesn’t perish as quickly as many other vegetables, and stored in a cool, dark place can last up to weeks! It can be mashed (like mashed potatoes), roasted, made into soup or casseroles.

To prepare, you’ll need to remove all of the outer brown skin and leave only the creamy white flesh inside. You don’t want any of the skin, it’s one of the few vegetables you’ll hear me say: peel it! Think of a pineapple, and you’re on the right track! Be ruthless.

Recipes

Try this at Christmas:

Mashed celeriac

· Peel and chop one celeriac and boil until soft and tender (about 30mins)

· Drain and transfer to a bowl

· Add some low fat crème fraiche with a dash of salt and pepper and mash!

Roast celeriac

· Peel and wedge the celeriac

· Heat oven to 200c

· Toss the wedges in olive oil and whole garlic cloves

· Roast for about 30-40 minutes, turning halfway

Slooooow-cooked Celeriac Soup

Fan of Delia Smith? You’ll love this recipe then, it’s one of hers!

Serves 6

Ingredients

450g trimmed celery stalks

570g celeriac

1 medium onion, peeled

1.5L hot stock (made from vegetable Bouillon powder such as Marigold)

3 bay leaves

Salt and pepper

2 tbsp natural yoghurt or crème fraiche (for garnishing)

Method

You’re looking for about 450g of celeriac flesh, remember – peeling it loses a lot of the vegetable’s mass! Preheat oven to 140c/Gas 1

Cut celeriac and onion into chunks

Put all the ingredients except the yoghurt/crème fraiche into a casserole dish and bring to the boil on the hob. Then place on lid and put into the oven for its slow cook – 3hours of slow cook! When ready, remove the bay leaves and allow to cool so that you can blend it.

Bring up the heat again on the hob to get the soup nice and hot for serving.

Serve with a dollop of yoghurt or crème fraiche