So last year about this time, as I was pursuing my “try new things from the farmer’s market” goal, I bought a celery root. Unfortunately for the celery root, I bought a bunch of other veg on that day as well, so I stowed it away in a cool dark place with the potatoes, assuming it would last for a week or two. But then week three rolled around and it was a bit too far past it’s prime, so I sadly tossed in in the compost.
Now, I did taste celery root for the first time on New Year’s weekend. Eugen had made some mashed celery root (so delicious!) and then two weeks ago we had a celery root salad at the Auberge in Alsace. That was sort of like a French cole-slaw and also super yummy.
This past Monday we made our own mashed celery root to go with polpetta as an alternative to pasta. Cut off the rough outside and brown knobbies and chop. Boil and then mash up with a bit of milk, salt, and pepper. And don’t forget the secret ingredient.
Mugnut! or Megnut or Nutmeg…or whatever that is. Finely grate some in (I imagine a microplane would be perfect, but watch your fingers).
Celery root has a very mild “celery” flavor, and no annoying strings getting stuck in your teeth. A yummy veggie to try. Next time we might do a celery-potato mash to mix things up a bit.
What does it taste like? Mashed potatoes? Mashed parsnips? Mashed turnips? Do you know that roasted turnips are sweet? By the way, how do you know when you’ve trimmed enough of the nobs off the celery root?
Celery root tastes like very mild celery and somehow “juicier” than mashed potatoes. Maybe it would taste sweet if roasted, like turnips do – that would be fun to try! Inside it is light greenish-whitish – once you cut into it you will see how much you need to peel it, sort of like when you peel a broccoli stem and you can tell which parts you would definitely not want to eat. Does Hy-Vee have celery root? It is in season now, as far as I can tell from the farmers’ market.