A celeriac
The celeriac is not a pretty veg. This root veg is quite unknown and I've never eaten it before or even seen one until now. I was at the wholesaler Lim Lee Seng the other day and I crept into their giant storage rooms and saw this weird-looking veg which Ive seen in cookbooks, especially British ones, and immediately grabbed one. The price was hefty, RM35 per kg but I had to try it.
The celeriac does smell like celery but mildly so. As big as a coconut without the husk, this veg is usually made into mash or gratineed. I liked Jamie Oliver's simple recipe where the celeriac is smashed, not mashed. This dish went well with some leftover London broil and sausages. I stretched the dish by adding a couple of potatoes but they take longer to boil so you need to cut them smaller than the celeriac.
Smashed Celeriac
1 celeriac (about 800 gm)
3 medium-sized potatoes (optional)
3-4 T EV olive oil*
a handful of fresh thyme, leaves only
2 garlic cloves, chopped finelysea salt & freshly ground black pepper
3-4 t stock or water
*after Europe, I use EVOO exclusively
1. Peel the celeriac and cut into small 2 cm cubes. Peel and cut the potatoes into 1 cm cubes.
2. Put the olive oil into a casserole dish or a pot and fry the celeriac, potatoes, thyme and garlic over medium heat until slightly golden, about 4-5 minutes. Season lightly. Add the stock and cover, turn heat down and simmer about 20-25 minutes until tender. Once in a while, stir the veg and add a spoonful of stock if needed.
3. Season again if necessary and smash the celeriac with a spoon or masher.
6 comments:
Hi Terry, I have been hovering over your blog for a while now. Really enjoy reading your posts. I live in KK but where is Lim Lee Seng wholesaler?
Dice
Hi Terry, I found yr blog recently and I read with great interest yr european escapade. I've been living in Milan for the past 14years. Just saw yr post on the celeriac, my m-i-l taught me how to use it raw and it's quite refreshing. First peel off the rough skin and then with the vegetable peeler, continue slicing the celeriac thinly, then with the same peeler, slice also parmigiano reggiano (a block of parmisan cheese) into thin slices and toss them all together with some olive oil and voila there's your salad.
The proportions are up to you.
Thanks for the constant update and complimenti for the good read.
I've been using celeriac as a substitute for bangkwang (yam bran/jimcama) as they are difficuly to get hold of. Back to celeriac, I use it to when I want to have popiah!
dice: it's hard to describe. lls is near supertanker restaurant. take the entrance into supertanker nearer to the penampang road and go past the turning into supertanker. turn right and you'll see shoplots and goods containers n you'll see lls. their no is 088 711 639. i get my cheeses from there. they supply imported food to hotels.
anon: oh, if i get another celeriac, i'll def use your recipe! thnx:)
tina; jicama n celeriac are so diff. but i think celeriac will be good in popiah.
Hi, it's me again. I didn't mean to sign off as anonymous, I just forgot. I'm Pat and very nice to meet you and I check yr blog every day, like I said 'good read'. Ciao.
i too love the stuff. hard to find here and never at a good prioce either.
celeriac has many uses, and the salad one that was mentioned is great. you can also slice it like slaw and put dressing on it in the same way (or add some into your basic slaw), also the peels should be saved (if all dirt has been removed before hand) and used in stocks for soups or gravies, freezes well for this application.
it can also be a great addition to the veggies used in a traditional bouillabaisse (along with a spot of Pernod and fennel - yummmm). also good diced and used in any vegetable style soup is good.
basically, i find it rounds out the flavors it is combined with and turns it up a notch or two in regard to cuisine.
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