Celeriacs are funny, knobbly looking vegetables.
While they’re the same species as normal celery, they are bred produce a large stem base – which is the part you eat.
Celeriac has a milder and slightly sweeter flavour, which makes it quite different from standard celery.
It’s also a very flexible vegetable and can be used both cooked and raw in salads. Celeriac can be baked with other vegetables, made into soups and is often mashed in with potatoes. The classic dish is celeriac remoulade, where the vegetable is grated or cut into small pieces and served with a mustard mayonnaise.
Ingredients that match with celeriac
- fennel (both seeds and the vegetable)
- mustard
- parsley
- rosemary
- chives
- olives
- potatoes
- most meats
- eggs
- blue and goat’s cheese
- white beans
- walnuts.
Nutritionally, it’s low in kilojoules and high in fibre. Celeriac is also very low in fat and has useful amounts of potassium, niacin and riboflavin.
Having recently bought a celeriac at the Castle Hill Growers’ Market, I decided to make it into a soup. This is a lovely, delicate flavoured soup, that’s perked up by the addition of mustard. It’s a very loose recipe, which I made from what was in the fridge. If you don’t have a leek, add in some onion; it doesn’t matter if your celeriac is bigger or smaller; and adjust the mustard to your own taste. You could also add some chives or parsley at the end.
Celeriac, leek and white bean soup
Serves 3
- 1 celeriac (about 500g), peeled and cut into 2cm chunks
- 2 sticks of celery, washed and cut into 2cm chunks
- 1 leek, washed and cut into 2cm chunks
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 tin of white beans (I used lima beans)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons mustard (or to taste)
Cook the vegetables: Put the celeriac, celery, leek, garlic, white beans and salt into a large pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer gently for about 15 minutes, or until the celeriac is tender.
Finish the soup: Take out a couple of spoonfuls of the soup and then blend the rest together. Mix the mustard into the removed portion and then stir back into the rest of the blended soup. Adjust the seasoning to your taste.
Nutritional information per serving (based on 3 servings):
Total kilojoules: 650kJ; Protein : 12.5g; Total Fat : 1g; Saturated fat : negligible; Carbohydrate : 26g; Fibre : 17g; Sodium : 413mg (without adding any extra salt): 1.5 serves; Additional nutrients : potassium, niacin, riboflavin
A few weekends ago the SMH’s Interactive Cook section featured two celeriac recipes by Steve Manfredi – celeriac and chestnut soup, plus a celeriac and gruyere tartlet. There’s also a video of him making the soup –
