Deluxe Potato and Celeriac au Gratin

The gnarly and nutty celeriac, or celery root, adds depth to these plain old potatoes making this an excellent side to any roast meat. Perfect on a cold winter night!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup vegetable or chicken broth

2 garlic cloves, crushed

3/4 cup 35% cream

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 small celeriac, thinly sliced

3 medium potatoes, thinly sliced

1 tbsp flour

1 or 2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup shredded cheese...swiss, cheddar, monterey jack

Place the garlic in a small saucepan with the broth and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add the cream. Leave to cool on counter.

Fry the chopped onion in olive oil until lightly golden.

Scrub the celeriac, cut off the bumps, then peel and slice thinly along with the peeled potatoes. Toss both in a bowl with the flour, salt and pepper. Add the parsley and onion.

Butter a 2L baking dish and layer the potatoes and celeriac. Remove the garlic from the broth/cream and pour over the vegetables.

Top with cheese and bake uncovered at 400°F for 1 - 1 1/4 hours. Ready when it's tender and golden!

Serves 4-6

Perfect with this Rich Roast Beef and Onions recipe:

https://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.com/2021/01/rich-roast-beef-and-onions.html

Fruity Celeriac Salad

Both crisp and creamy, this refreshing salad can be made hours before serving. And it can be changed up to suit your mood (or what's in your fridge!) 

Other add-ins could be: pecans, blackberries, capers, sliced gherkins, julienned pears, sliced celery... the possibilities are endless.

Ingredients:

1/2 celeriac, julienned

1-2 tbsps lemon juice

1 small carrot, julienned

1 small apple, unpeeled and julienned

1/2 cup blueberries

2 tbsps sour cream

salt and pepper to taste

fresh parsley and some pomegranate arils to garnish

Brush the celeriac well with a vegetable brush, then peel cutting off some of the knobby parts. Julienne the celeriac and apple first and toss with lemon juice to prevent browning. Add the carrot and blueberries.

Mix the sour cream, salt and pepper and add to the salad, coating well. The salad may be made to this point and refrigerated, covered for up to 8 hours before serving.

When ready to serve place in bowls and garnish with fresh parsley and/or pomegranate arils.

Personally I think the pomegranate makes the salad pop!

Makes 3 side salad servings

Braised Pork Roast with Guinness

Incredibly flavourful cooked in stout, beef broth and a little smoke...

I used a small 1 lb boneless porkloin roast but this recipe would work just as well with a nice pork tenderloin.

1 lb boneless porkloin roast
2 tbsps flour
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsps olive oil, divided
1 small onion, sliced
2 or 3 carrots, sliced
2 or 3 mushrooms, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup Guinness stout
1 tbsp tomato paste
Pinch of sugar
1/2 cup beef broth
1 tsp liquid smoke 
1 tsp dry rosemary
1 tsp dry thyme

Dredge the meat in flour, salt and pepper. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large skillet and brown the meat on all sides. Remove to a plate

Add another 1 tbsp olive oil to the skillet along with the onion, carrots, mushrooms and garlic. Cook 3-4  minutes. Stir in  the remainder of the ingredients and snuggle the roast down in it. Spoon some of the liquid over the roast and sprinkle with rosemary and thyme.

Place uncovered in a 375 F oven for 45 minutes to an hour.
Rest 5-10 minutes before slicing.

I served it with mashed celeriac and potatoes. Just add some cubed celeriac to the pot when boiling potatoes, about 1 part celeriac to 3 parts potatoes and mash as usual.