What do I do with Celeriac?

[Physibeth]

I got this in my produce box today and I have no idea what to do with it. I was thinking when I saw it on the list that it was sort of herb but it is a ginormous bulb root with little green leafies. Anyone have recipes or ideas?

[Nadia B]

Oh I love it, but I'll eat anything, some people here know So, what to do with this ugly bulb. Wash it, peel it and have it

Mashed with garlic, herbes and some ghee/oil. If the taste is too strong mix with cauliflower mash.

Raw in coleslaw with carrots and mayo

Fried as hash with bacon and apples

Roasted

In the soup (onions apple chicken sausage or leeks, ginger, garlic and parsley e.g)

Aaaaand in two my favorite salads. Walnuts and mayo and green beans and mustard .

Have fun.

[Susan W]

Nadia will eat anything. :0)

I recently saw a great looking recipe. They peeled it and cut it into wedges. Steamed them and then browned them in ghee and sprinkled them with salt and pepper. I think you can peel, cut and roast them with a chicken or beef too, but I may be making that up.

[Physibeth]

Can I peel that sucker with a standard vegetable peeler? I do have mashed faux-tatoes on my meal plan later this week so maybe I'll double it up and add this in with the cauliflower. Thanks!

[Susan W]

I think a knife is in order for the peeling.

[Physibeth]

Hmmm...knives and I still have a tentative relationship. I might have to do it the same way I do a pineapple then (cut it into a cube). Or find someone more talented to peel it for me. Sadly a skill my mother was never able to teach me.

[Susan W]

Lol...I use a knife on pineapple too. I have a very hefty veg peeler and I feel like the celeriac that I touched today would have killed it. I wish I had bought it instead of putting it back so I could go test it for you. :0)

[Physibeth]

Lol...I think that a course on proper use of knives is in my future. Also learning to sharpen my knives would help. I just can't get over the image of slicing my finger open.

[Nadia B]

First, here is the guide to peeling http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-peel-celery-root-74548

Second, I'd go with boiling it first for salad or making Susan's suggestion. If you make faux tatoes and won't like the taste = whole batch is wasted. Raw is awesome too, crunch crunch.

[Physibeth]

Oh now that doesn't look too hard. Very much the way I approach a pineapple. Ok, maybe I'll try the roasting route then. Wouldn't want to ruin faux tatoes. :-)

[Susan W]

Oh now that doesn't look too hard. Very much the way I approach a pineapple. Ok, maybe I'll try the roasting route then. Wouldn't want to ruin faux tatoes. :-)

That's exactly how I do pineapples but I have very sharp knives. If you scroll down to the comments, there are a lot who use peelers.

[Kirsteen]

My very favourite thing with celeriac is to cut it into fries coat with whatever fat your using, sprinkle heavily with cumin and roast. I think celeriac and cumin is a marriage made in heaven but, to be honest, I tend to like cumin with a lot of things.

[Physibeth]

Hmm....I'm not a big fan of cumin myself...I'll use it if a recipe calls for it but not my favorite. What is the general flavor of celeriac? Would garlic or rosemary work instead of the cumin?

[pjena]

Celeriac has a celery taste. I usually make soup with it, but have eaten it raw, too, in a root vegetable slaw mixed with raw grated sweet potatoes, beets, sunchokes, carrots, daikon or whatever I had.

[Guest]

I made it once during my first W30. I used a veggie peeler - not great with knives either. There were some knots that required me to slice in a little during the chopping process. I roasted it and mashed it. I think garlic would be awesome. I like rosemary in a lot of things and leave cumin out of everything - why is that in my cabinet to this day after sich a big clean-out? I do think garlic would be the safest. Anyway, the result was fabulous!!! I loved that little guy and wished I had gotten a bigger one. I do love cooked celery though.

If your bulb is big enough, maybe you could try it a couple of ways...roasted with other root veggies, roasted or boiled and mashed, and raw. Nadia gave some great ideas. Gonna have to get another one and some more rutabaga next time I go shopping.

(Don't you just love those baskets?)

ETA: I bought a really small bulb and found it to be really mild in celery flavor and smooth in texture. Not sure if larger bulbs have more flavor.

[MrsStick]

Living in Germany, celeriac is what you get when you ask someone at the store for celery. They put it in stews and soups; it's pretty tasty in both, especially chicken (not noodle) soup!

[Physibeth]

Finally made this up last night. Probably would have been better if dealt with sooner but it turned out fine. I was able to peel it with the vegetable peeler. Sliced it into fries. Tossed it in melted grass fed butter (I'm not doing whole30 atm - would have used Ghee if I was), sprinkled with real salt garlic salt blend and rosemary. Roasted at 425 for 30 minutes. Perfect side to my grilled flank steak. Thanks everyone!