Week 34: Celery Root

Celery root is one of those unattractive root vegetables. Remove the dirt, knobby skin and little tubers and you’re left with a hard off-white blob. However, slice or chop it up and you get a tasty veggie that can be eaten raw for a crunchy snack or cooked to be as soft as a baked potato.

Celery root, also known as celeriac, is (as you may have guessed) the edible root in the celery family. It has a very strong, almost concentrated celery flavor with a hint of something else – some say parsley, we thought a bit like potato. When picking out celery roots, look for firm, smaller tubers and avoid those with discolorations or fleshy spots. Larger roots are woodier and best enjoyed roasted or in a stew or soup.

You can do pretty much anything you want with this versatile root. Enjoy it raw in salads or in an appetizer for a vibrant crunch. Roast it with other root vegetables or add into soups and stews for a punch of flavor. Here we’ve added it to a potato salad with great success, leading me to believe that it would be an interesting addition to mashed potatoes for an added zesty flavor.

Boiled with some Yukon Gold potatoes, you could hardly tell the difference between the two root vegetables. Toss them together with mayo, bacon, green onion and mustard and you get a wonderful potato salad with the flavor of celery mixed right in. There’s no way to tell the difference between the potato and celery root, so even a picky eater would have no idea they were consuming it.

We omitted celery from this recipe for the obvious reasons, but it still has a little crunch from the green onion and bacon. And, of course, you can omit the bacon to easily make it vegetarian, and add in your favorite potato salad ingredient. What’s your favorite addition to potato salad?

Potato-Celery Root Salad

• 2 celery roots (around 1/2 lb.), peeled and cut into even chunks
• 4 Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into even chunks
• 4 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 2 C light mayonnaise
• 4 T Dijon mustard
• 1 bunch of green onions, roots removed and thinly sliced
• Salt and pepper to taste

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add in celery root and potatoes and cook until fork-tender (around 10 minutes). Drain into colander and place under cold running water until completely cooled.

In a large bowl, toss cooled celery root and potatoes with all other ingredients.