Yes, that’s right. I’m about to show you a side that I ate on my flight to Europe. Airplane food has rarely been edible and the portion control is quite extreme (c’mon airlines…feed me).
Out of all the airplane food I’ve eaten, smoked salmon starters and cold sandwiches are all that stand out as tasty in my view.
However, this year I tried for the very first time, mashed celeriac or celery root. I’m casting this post as my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging #102, hosted by Ulrike at Kuchenlatein.
Celeriac is the root of the celery stalks that we are more familiar with. It can be eaten raw or cooked. It’s not all that popular in North American cooking but this root vegetable is used quite abit in European kitchens.
I’m presenting you with a garlic mashed celeriac side dish. You should note that celeriac does have more water content than potato and therefore it does need some starch. Any recipe I’ve seen for mashed celeriac calls for some potato in the dish.
While boiling the celeriac, you will smell the obvious celery aroma and for some this may be strong but hang in there…the flavour is mellow and it has a turnip with nutmeg kinda’ finish to the taste.
Finally, after you drain the the boiled celeriac, put the pot back on medium heat and allow for some more of the water to cook off.
Try mashed celeriac, especially for those looking for more ways to lower carbs in their diet. Celeriac is cheap (about $1/head) and above all, it tastes really good!
Garlic Mashed Celeriac
3 cups (1 whole celeriac), peeled and cut into cubes
1 large potato, cut into the same size as the celeriac cubes
3 cloves of garlic
water
1 good dab of butter
1/2 cup cream or evaporated milk
3 Tbsp of chopped fresh chives
1 Tbsp of chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste
- Start a pot of water. When it comes to a boil, add some salt and add your celeriac, potatoes and garlic. Turn down the heat to a medium-high boil and cook until fork tender for approx. 30 minutes.
- When your veggies are boiled, strain the water and put the veggies back on to medium heat and lightly stir to allow more water to evaporate.
- Mash your celeriac, potato and garlic with some butter until there are little or no lumps. Add milk, mash & stir well.
- Adjust for seasoning with salt and pepper and mix in your chopped chives and parsley.
Wow, how interesting. I am not a huge fan of celery but this looks mighty tasty!
Celeriac is very common in Northern Germany, it’s a must (ingredient) in a heary soup. I love celeriac mash, I like the taste more than the celery stalks :-).
Thanks for participating WHB
I never tried celeriac mash, it looks delicious! Great post I smiled at the part about the plane food. :)
http://www.cookbookwiki.com/Pork_with_Celery_in_Egg_and_Lemon_Sauce_(Hirino_me_Selino.try this with celeriac and celery.very tasty)
I’ve never had celeriac but it has to be good mashed with flavourful garlic and all those other delightful flavourings.
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen celeriac. I’m so intrigued!
How unusual! I definitely want to try this out. Thanks for introducing us all to something new.
Three cloves of garlic…now that’s “stinkin”. I am with some of the others and have never ventured into celery root…but I will.
Val, since the garlic is boiled, it does mellow…add four if you like!
This looks delicious! I’ll have to try it!
It sounds very tasty. I love the flavor of regular celery so I guess I might like this too. And with garlic, yes indeed!
So, I’m bad…. I’ve been wondering when you were going to get back to blogging after your vacation…. nothing was showing up in my google reader. I finally saw this on the round-up… It looks great, BTW, I’m just getting to know celeriac and I love it.
Anyway, your RSS feed, according to google, doesn’t go past Aug. 10…. it must be the FM!
I love, love, LOOOVE celeriac! Just saw some big ones in the supermarket the other day, I will definitely give this one a try!