Spuds: Mash ’em, gnash ’em, yum

Celeriac is a bizarre little vegetable that, honestly, doesn’t have a lot to offer. There’s some potassium. There’s some vitamin C. Shrug.

But they’re just so wonderfully weird looking that I love to buy and cook with them. And they do taste good, sort of a slightly more tart, zesty and creamy version of a potato.

Celeriac (also known as celery root, even though it’s not the root of the green celery stalks that we commonly eat) looks a little bit like a small gray-white space alien, with little tendrils that curl out and around and back. It’s not an attractive vegetable but it’s strangely appealing. It’s a little bit like the winter version of kohlrabi.

If you’ve traveled at all in France and eaten at a bistro, you have probably tasted celeriac in the classic appetizer, celeri remoulade. To make that, you peel off the outer weirdness of the celery root until you are left with only the creamy white interior. Slice it up into matchsticks, braise them in some chicken stock, then toss with some lemon, mayonnaise and Dijon mustard.

It’s a lot of work and it’s not something you want to eat all the time. But something I do want to eat all the time is mashed potatoes and potato soup. 

This winter, for some reason, lots of our area gourmet take-outs have had wonderful variations on potato soup, including one that I tasted recently that had arugula in it.

Celeriac is a wonderful addition to any dish you would normally make with just potatoes (which are surprisingly nutritious, considering how bland they are; among other things, they have lots of potassium, which helps ward off the leg cramps I seem to get too often).

You can of course roast cubes of celeriac, alongside potatoes and other root vegetables. You can cook celeriac and potatoes until they’re tender and then  mash them up. 

Or you can make potato and celeriac soup (and sure, add some arugula!). The recipe below is from American-in-France David Lebovitz (www.davidlebovitz.com). He points out that one advantage of using potatoes and celeriac in soup is that they are already rich and creamy, so you don’t need to add cream.

Normally I would suggest using a tasty sea salt in this and other recipes, but lately I’ve begun to wonder if all my friends (and I) have thyroid problems because we’re not getting enough iodine. Until further notice, I’ll be using regular old iodized table salt when I cook. 

Potato and celeriac soup 

Adapted from David Lebovitz

2 tablespoons butter, 2 tablespoons olive oil, two leeks, cleaned and chopped (slice them down the middle and rinse them under running water until the sand is gone), salt, two garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced (Lebovitz advises slicing not mincing; he has found that mincing allows the garlic to burn), one small to medium celery root, peeled and cubed, three small Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cubed, 3 cups of chicken stock, 3 cups of  water, 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of freshly ground pepper.

In a large pot, melt the butter with the olive oil. Add the leeks and cook for about five minutes, stirring frequently. Add the garlic and season with the salt; cook over low heat until the leeks and garlic are soft and translucent (this should take a few minutes; be patient).

Add the celery root, potatoes and stock. Bring it to a boil, then reduce it to a bubbly, strong simmer. Slip the lid off to the side of the pot so some steam can escape and cook until until the celery root and potatoes can be poked easily with a knife. This also will take a while; Lebovitz says 45 minutes but I’d start checking it at around 15 to 20 minutes.

Add pepper and more salt if needed, until you like the way it tastes. At this point, you can  use an immersion blender or hand mixer if you have one and aren’t worried about spattering hot soup on your wrist. 

Or you can let it cool and puree it in your blender or a food processor (don’t overblend it, or it will turn into glue).

Soups often thicken while they cool; you can thin this down as you reheat it with some chicken stock or water. 

If you do want to add some arugula, add it at the last minute because it will wilt quickly. I’d chop it up before tossing it in.

You can garnish your soup with something colorful, such as chopped scallions.