Celeriac is a very underused vegetable. It’s delicious both raw as in the classic French celeriac remoulade (grated and mixed with a mustardy mayonnaise) and cooked. I absolutely love it braised in clementine or orange juice and often serve it alongside a pan fried duck breast.
It’s so simple and so tasty you should try it yourself.
You will need a head of celeriac. Peel the gnarled skin off to reveal the milky white celeriac and cut it into evenly sized large chunks. You can be fancy and make a teardrop shape or cut large chip shaped pieces. Just be sure to have them of an even size so they cook evenly.
Put the pieces into a saucepan and pour enough orange juice in the pan to almost cover the pieces.
Add a large chunk of salted butter to the pan and bring slowly to the boil.
Turn the heat down and simmer gently until the celeriac is tender and has absorbed all the buttery orangey juices. You can do this in advance as long as you have plenty of orangey juice left. When ready to serve you can reheat or continue to cook until the orange juice has reduced to a sticky sauce that coats the celeriac pieces.
Celeriac is also delicious made into a purée. Put chunks into a saucepan and cover with milk, add a couple of bay leaves, sea salt and pepper and simmer gently until tender. Remove the bay leaves and then blitz in the blender until smooth and creamy. This can be done in advance and reheated too.
