Before I came to live in the UK I have never come across celeriac. When I asked people how to prepare it I was met with blank stares and shrugging shoulders. No one seemed to care. After all potato mash is the staple food in this country.
At least a hundred cookbooks later I was delighted to discover a celeriac recipe in the Abel & Cole cookbook. It’s a simple recipe. Instead of using the popular mash ingredients, lashings of butter and splashes of milk, mascarpone cheese is used which makes this side dish different and even special.
I’m not going to lie to you. The taste takes some getting used to but for all celery lovers out there, you will definitely hit a homerun. The texture is light but sort of lumpy and no amount of manual mashing is going to give you the smoothness we all yearn for. Your best bet is using a hand blender and swish away to your heart’s content. Also, be careful when adding the mascarpone. Add one tablespoon at a time until you stop as the desired consistency.
That’s it, folks! If you have a clunky celeriac rolling around in your weekly vegetable box this winter or curiosity simply gets the better of you, try this recipe.
Celeriac and Mascarpone Purée
Preparation: 10 mins – Cooking: 15 mins
Ingredients
- 1 celeriac, rough outer skin removed and diced into 2.5cm (1 in) cubes
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled (optional)
- a knob of butter
- ½ mug of mascarpone cheese
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Place the diced celeriac and garlic in a pot of salted water (to just cover) and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the celeriac is fork-tender. Drain, pop the celeriac and garlic back into the pot and move it around over a low heat for a minute or so to remove some of the moisture. Now you can either blitz it in a blender or mash in the pot to a smooth paste before folding through the butter and mascarpone. Season and serve.
