Zox Kitchen: September 5, 2013

Celeriac—The Under Appreciated

Root Vegetable

A few years ago friends were serving a wonderful early fall meal of fish, salad, and a mashed vegetable dish that combined cauliflower, roasted carrot, and  an unknown root vegetable. The unknown vegetable turned out to be celery root, also called celeriac, which has become one of my favorite and most  adaptable root vegetables harvested this time of year. I think I was slow to appreciate celeriac because of the vegetable’s bulbous, “hairy” appearance which doesn’t even sound good in print. It looks like an oversized dirty softball that has seen better days. But once you wash the dirt off which exposes thin roots covered with dirt masquerading as hair, the vegetable becomes more palatable and downright extraordinary to eat.