Buttermilk Celery Root Mashed Potatoes
Mashed potatoes are my comfort food. Throughout my elementary, middle school and high school years, I would spend most Wednesdays evenings with my Grandparents, eating homemade mashed potatoes. By my request, I ate mashed potatoes on hot summer days, mashed potatoes on sick days, mashed potatoes on birthdays and over the holidays.
Buttermilk Celery Root Mashed Potatoes is our own hybrid version. We like them for the subtle vegetal flavor of celery root and the creaminess of butter, tempered by tangy buttermilk and garlic two ways.
Yield: Serves 2-4
Ingredients:
- 1 pound russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
- 9 ounces trimmed celery root (approximately 1 large or 2 small), cut into 1/2 inch cubes (half the size of potato cubes)
- 3 peppercorns
- 3 bay leaves
- 3 crushed garlic cloves
- 1 sprig fresh thyme
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 4 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ground celery seed (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 2-4 tablespoons finely minced chives
Steps:
- Put the potatoes, celery root, peppercorns, bay leaves, garlic, and thyme in a large pot and cover with cold water. The water should cover the potatoes by one inch.
- Bring the pot to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and allow to simmer, covered, for approximately 15-20 minutes, until the potatoes and celeriac are both soft and cooked through.
- Remove from heat. Drain the potatoes and celery root. Discard the peppercorns, bay leaves and thyme, leave the garlic with the potatoes.
- Return the drained potatoes, celery root and garlic to the cooking pot, or, transfer to a stand mixer, and pour in buttermilk, melted butter, salt, garlic powder, celery seed and white pepper. Mash or whisk to combine until the potatoes have achieved your desired texture, fluffy, chunky, or somewhere in between. Taste, and add additional buttermilk, salt or pepper to your preference.
- Serve the Buttermilk Celery Root Mashed Potatoes hot, garnished with chives.
Rosemary Lemon Roasted Potatoes
The smell of roasting potatoes makes my mouth water every time. These golden brown orbs of puffed potato deliciousness have been my dish of choice this past month. And I think the addition of rosemary and lemon makes the house smell like Sunday dinner. Happy roasting!
Celery Root Remoulade
I find that I often prefer the idea of retro foods much more than the actual foods themselves. This vintage salad is a mustardy crisp exception. Celery Root Remoulade is a traditional raw bistro salad, well loved in French cuisine. Just leave it to the French to transform a hairy, knobby, alien-like root vegetable into a delicate salad. If you've never cooked with celery root before, don’t let external appearances fool you, while this root crop may look like a deformed, sprouted potato, celery root adds a nutty, nuanced celery-like flavor to raw, salads, soups and is fantastic in mashed in potatoes. We serve Celery Root Remoulade as a pungent fall coleslaw and find it pairs particularly well with meat and seafood dishes.
French Cabbage Soup, Garbure Gasconne
Blustering snow and icy rains found us craving a hearty soup this week. Gazing down the steep cobblestone hills winding down from our house, we opted for caution, and a pantry raid, in favor of driving. For our winter-storm-fare, we dunked homemade sourdough bread in aromatic bowls of French Cabbage Soup, and dreamed of beaches! Our recipe for French Cabbage Soup, Garbure Gasconne, is a modified version of this delicious cabbage soup from the French region of Gascony. This soup smartly employs steaming and simmering techniques to gently extract the delicate flavors from winter root vegetables. French Cabbage Soup is a warming vegetable soup with a depth of flavor that far exceeds its humble ingredients.
Potato & Garlic Goat Cheese Gratin
When Paul asked what I wanted for my birthday meal this week, I immediately blurted out 'lots of potatoes!' Paul smirked, ok, so nothing new here. Upon further consideration, I requested a potato dish that was both creamy and crispy, pungent with garlic and goat cheese. This aromatic Potato Goat Cheese Gratin was the magnificent result, which I ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This recipe is adapted from one of our favorite cookbook authors, James Peterson. It forgoes a bechamel or cream sauce since the high starch content of the potatoes eliminates the need for additional thickeners. For a crisp fall day, nothing beats the smell of slow roasting garlic, goat cheese, and potatoes!
Rustic French Greens & Buttermilk Soup
Thanks for following along with our new adventures! We recently moved from Pittsburgh to Haiti where we are starting a 5 year volunteer assignment with a non-profit relief and development organization. We will be in transition for the next few months as we complete our in-country orientation, language study, spend time living with host families in both the countryside and capital... and lest we forget, have our first baby somewhere in there as well! Please bear with us as we will not have ready access to internet or a kitchen throughout this time. We will continue to share new recipes that we've prepared in advance, and updates on our new life in Haiti as often as we are able.
This Rustic French Greens & Buttermilk Soup is a simple, green, and earthy foil to the button-busting days of Christmas feasting. This recipe is inspired by a watercress soup Paul came across when we were on a French cooking binge, and we find that it adapts well to any hardy green you have on hand. A surprising hit with guests, this soup has a lovely mellow and subtle sweetness that is truly delicious.
