Today we made celery root pancakes following a recipe by Robin Garr from the Food Lovers Page back in 10/6/05. Here it is:
INGREDIENTS: (Serves two)
2 small or 1 large celeriac (celery root)
1/2 medium sweet onion
2 tablespoons (30g) white flour
1 egg
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons peanut oil
2 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese
PROCEDURE:
1. Wash and scrub the celery root to remove any mud. Peel it, using a vegetable peeler or sharp knife. Grate it into shreds, using the large holes on a box grater or the food-processor equivalent, and put the result in a mixing bowl. Peel the onion and grate it into the same bowl.
2. Stir in the flour, the egg and the cream; add the cumin, salt and black pepper, and stir it all together into a thick batter. If it seems too dry to stick together, add a little more cream or water.
3. Form this thick batter into four to six balls the size of golf balls or a little larger.
4. Heat the peanut oil to sizzling in a large nonstick skillet. Put in the six balls of celeriac, flattening them into thick rounds. Let them cook on one side until they form a light brown crust, two or three minutes, then flip them to brown the other side. Reduce heat to medium and continue to cook, turning occasionally, until they are cooked through, perhaps 10 minutes in all.
5. While the pancakes are cooking, cut the cheese into as many thin slices as you have pancakes. When they're almost done, drape a slice of cheese over each pancake, cheeseburger-style, and continue cooking just until the cheese warms and melts a little. Serve immediately as a light vegetarian main course or a side dish.
We elected to use dill weed rather than cumin (that is, we discovered that we were out of cumin--I just love recipe talk), but otherwise the only adjustment was to salt the grated celeriac and onion and let it bleed water for 20 minutes, then squeeze it dry and only then mix it with the other ingredients. We had this with grilled salmon and after an initial disastrous match with pinot noir (it made the celery root pancake taste like Jack-in-the-pulpit), enjoyed the two with an Alsatian Riesling.
But although the celeriac pancakes tasted great, they were disappointingly mushy inside. Has anyone tried this or some other celeriac mix as a fritter? I’m wondering if rolling the golf balls in another beaten egg and then cornmeal (wheat flour? Teff?) would be enough to hold them together in deep fat.
Yeah, like Robin said, most people do not rush to the celery root section as soon as they enter a grocery. It is a homely veggie. Once a checkout clerk held it out and said “EEW, what is this?” I told her it was a camel testicle, and she dropped it (fortunately, this is not a fragile item).
But I know you celery root fritter fryers are out there somewhere. If you love celeriac and can advise me on fritters (or any other way of cooking this noble root), please feel free