Celeriac & Potato Gratin

Written by Published on in casserole, recipes

Ingredients:
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 large celeriac*, peeled and thinly sliced
1 1/4 lb potato**, peeled and thinly sliced
1 3/4 cups milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
shredded asagio, for sprinkling
salt
pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. In a small pot, bring the the cream, thyme and milk to a boil. Allow to cool (about 15 minutes) then strain. Discard the thyme. Stir in the nutmeg, green onions and salt/pepper to taste. Meanwhile, arrange the celeriac and potato slices in a lightly greased oven safe dish. Pour the milk mixture over the vegetables and sprinkle lightly with cheese. Cover and bake until the liquid is absorbed, about 40-45 minutes for a large dish, 20-25 for individual sized dishes, taking the cover off for the last 5 minute or so to brown the cheese. Serve hot.

*also known as celery root, it is large, warty and more than a little daunting looking. It smells and tastes faintly of celery.

**Or a little or more potato. I kept it pretty equal to the celeriac.

My thoughts:
First, I’d like to apologize that the picture for this isn’t of the finished product, it came out great (and attractive) but it was so dark out I couldn’t get a good shot. Anyway, I’d heard of celeriac before but I don’t think I’ve ever actually eaten it until today. I actually had never noticed in the store until recently and thought I’d give it a chance. It is sort of intimidating looking but has a similar texture when raw to potato, so I just treated it as such. I liked it a lot, it made an ordinary gratin something special. I can’t wait to use it in something else.

And if you aren’t tired of voting: my green tomato chili recipe is up for a little prize on Apartment Therapy: The Kitchen. The voting is here. The prize is a fun one!

4 Comments

  1. kickpleat
    November 9, 2007 at 10:54 pm

    i’ve never had celeriac either…but have always been curious! the recipe looks good and i’ll just have to try it out to see the finished product!

  2. Anonymous
    November 10, 2007 at 7:34 am

    Count me as another one who has never used celeriac. Looks easy enough to try. I think I will pick one op this weekend when we go shopping and play around with it. Thanks for the tips!

  3. Anonymous
    November 11, 2007 at 2:43 am

    I love celeriac or celery root whatever you call it. It is popular in Germany in salads and one of my favorite salads is Selleriesalat.

  4. Katerina
    November 14, 2007 at 8:08 pm

    Damnit, it is on my list too, but I dunno this sounds sort of like cheating when does something in a gratin turn out bad?