Give celeriac an inch and it will take over your kitchen. Well, not quite, but I grated a bit into a salad for the first time in ages a couple of days ago, was reminded of my first celeriac remoulade in an even more distant past, and next thing you know, I was making a remoulade.
Looks a bit like an ugly planet, dunnit?
Mind you, no one else in my house eats mayonnaise – my mom is watching her cholesterol, my dad is still nominally on his crazy-ass diet which is vegan (except when he is “tasting” everyone else’s food), and my five-year-old is valiantly resisting the charms of potato salad, tuna salad, and anything else that tastes so nice with some mayo and would be so much easier to send him to school with.
So rather than make a batch of real mayonnaise that I couldn’t possibly finish eating before it went off, I resorted to scraping the last two tablespoons of Hellman’s whose Never-Say-Die longevity in the fridge is a wonder of the modern age (this jar dates back to the summer).
Celeriac cleans up real nice….
And then I didn’t even use mustard powder or mash up mustard seed. Nope. Gulden’s Spicy Brown. Yes. I have these things in my fridge. Yes. I use them. I do the best I can.
And this ad hoc, speedy-weedy, so-called celeriac remoulade was a tasty pleasure just for me!
A lovely little side dish, celeriac remoulade is easy and different
Celeriac remoulade (with pre-fab mayo)
1 small celeriac (celery root), topped and tailed and thick skin pared away
(place immediately in salted cold water to prevent browning if you are not going to make the dressing right away)
Remoulade:
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
2 generous Tbs prepared mayonnaise
1 generous Tbs nonfat plain yogurt (or other plain yogurt)
1 tsp prepared mustard
2 tsp dried parsley (or one tablespoon fresh, chopped)
(additional optional ingredients: grated apple; 1 tsp horseradish)
Optional garnishes: cornichons, chopped fine; or a few capers, drained
Grate celeriac and place in a bowl. Stir in 1 tsp lemon juice thoroughly to prevent browning (oxidation). Mix the second tsp lemon juice and the remaining ingredients (except garnishes) in a small bowl. Mix the dressing into the grated celeriac and serve with garnish.
Sounds fabulous–my husband the supertaster is *very* fussy about salads and things with Green in them and yet I think he’d love this (he does love a good coleslaw), so it’s going on my list!
My celeriac is outside, taking over the hallway and I noticed that the farmer had baby ones on Sunday. It might be celeriac mash with chicken tomorrow. I’ll save the remoulade for another day – it sounds delicious 😉
I really will have to consider growing it, as I don’t see it around all that often…
I would really enjoy sharing your celeriac remoulade with you…it sounds delicious. I always have it when we are in Germany and France.
I would love to share it with you too! One day….