lonely celeriac sprout

Only one little celeriac seedling has finally sprouted. They are such delicate little sprouts. My seed was from 2012. Not so old, I thought. Wrong. I think I've told myself this before - celeriac seed should be fresh. I ordered fresh seed yesterday.

onion and celeriac seedlings

celeriac recipes

Someone asked a while back what to do with celeriac. I thought I start a recipe list.
Here is a nice post from Winter Green Community Farm. As they describe:

Celeriac is descended from wild celery and has a crisp, clean flavor. It can be used in turkey stuffing instead of regular celery and has a good amount of Vitamin C. Try celeriac raw grated into salads or in any recipe that calls for celery. Celeriac can also be boiled or steamed. Peel, slice, and boil for 5-10 minutes or boil whole for 20-30 minutes. Mash and top with butter (tastes incredible with mashed potatoes!). Celeriac can be peeled, chopped, and added to soup or stew or baked (in its skin, then peeled when cool) at 350 degrees for one hour, alone, or with other vegetables in a root bake. Add celeriac to any stir-fry, a gratin dish, or finely chopped in stuffing. Serve steamed and cubed celeriac tossed with a warm balsamic vinaigrette and parsley.

The link has recipes for Celeriac Risotto, Hearty Celeriac Bisque and Celeriac and Butternut Squash Soup.

harvest

These are the vegetables I harvested on Sunday. Four big hairy celeriac roots (below is before I trimmed the them), a couple potatoes, a couple red cabbage. Also some nice lettuce and escarole and a bunch of baby bok choy.

The celeriac are one of the first crops planted and the last ones harvested. Very slow growing. I planted Feb 21, harvested Oct 31. Almost 9 months in the ground.

sprout photos

I was very happy to spot five or six TINY celeriac sprouts today. Still only one lavender sprout. Onions are getting tall. And the thyme looks good.

Today's seed planting list:
Onion, Ailsa Craig Exhibition (1 pot)
Onion, Purplette (1 pot)
Onion, Frontier (1 pot)

(Tuesday note: two more celeriac sprouts! another lavender! and lots of marigolds today...)

humble leek and potato soup

Marian Morash says this is a "perfectly simple, humble soup is wonderful for supper on a cold, wet day". I got the recipe from page 158 of the Victory Garden Cookbook, but substituted celeriac for celery and plain yogurt for heavy cream. It was absolutely fantastic!



Gretta pulled this leek from her field last week. (The potatoes, onion and celeriac are from her CSA share.) I'm thinking of growing leeks next year, so I looked up some information. Leeks are another vegetable that do well very late into the cold weather. Along with kale, they are the most cold-tolerant of vegetables.

Different varieties of leeks are better adapted to cold weather. There are two basic types of leeks: summer types (long shanked—bulbless) and winter types (short shanked—slight bulbing). As a general rule, leeks with blue-green leaves tend to be more tolerant of the cold. If established in late summer they can overwinter through the frozen ground and snow pack of northern New England. In fact, the colder the temperature, the sweeter the taste. On the other end of the spectrum, they will endure, but are not particularly fond of temperatures consistently above 85˚F.




My version of the recipe:

3 T butter
2 1/2 C chopped leeks (2 small leeks), chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 C chopped celeriac
2 C roughly chopped potatoes (3 potatoes)
1 quart chicken stock
6 oz plain yogurt
salt and pepper

Melt butter in heavy soup pan, add leeks and onion. Saute until golden. Add potatoes, celeriac, stock. Cover, bring to boil. Reduce heat, simmer until potatoes are soft (about 30 minutes). Roughly puree in food processor. Add yogurt, whisk. Season to taste.

greens with potatoes and onions

I made a terrific casserole yesterday. All veggies from my garden or my recent CSA distribution: collard and beet greens, celeriac, potatoes and onions. Next time I'll make more, as this is really good the next day too.

Its a good warm dish for a freezing cold night. Its about 20°F outside now. I'm doing my best to avoid going out at all but the warmest times of the day. Bbbrrrr!

The recipe is adapted from my basic vegetable cooking resource: Marion Morash's Victory Garden Cookbook.

Greens with Potatoes and Onions:
5 Tbs butter
2 C chopped greens
salt and pepper
1 1/2 C sliced onions
Béchamel sauce (below)
2 C sliced cooked potatoes and celeriac (or potatoes only)
2/3 C grated cheese (your choice, I used cheddar and Parmesan)

Preheat oven to 370°F. Peel celeriac and cut into 1/2 inch slices. Cook celeriac and potatoes until tender - celeriac about 8 minutes, potatoes about 20 minutes. Make Béchamel sauce (below). Melt 2 Tbs butter in saute pan. Add chopped greens and saute until moisture is evaporated. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. In same pan melt 2 Tbs butter and saute onions until lightly browned. Butter 9" square baking pan. Smooth some Béchamel sauce into pan and then layer on potatoes and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Layer onions on top, and then spoon on the remaining Béchamel. Sprinkle on half the cheese and cover with greens. Sprinkle on remaining cheese and then dot with butter. Bake in preheated oven 30 minutes until heated through and lightly browned on top.

Béchamel sauce:
2 1/2 Tbs butter
3 Tbs flour
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp salt
pepper

Melt butter, add flour, and whisk to remove lumps. Cook 2-3 minutes until flour is golden. Remove from pan, add milk and beat vigorously until smooth. Bring to boil and salt, simmer at least 5 min to remove four taste. (Simmering longer will improve flavor.) Season with salt and pepper.

Variations:
- Marion suggests using turnips, but I really dislike these. Use at your own risk.
- Or make recipe using leftover mashed potatoes.
- Or top with buttered breadcrumbs.
- To omit bechamel - place well buttered greens on the bottom, cover with whipped potatoes beaten with butter, milk and and egg yolk. Dot with butter and bake.
- These flavors go great together. I bet lots of variations will work well.

Skippy's vegetable recipes
potatoes (Solanum tuberosum)