Hasselback Celeriac

I read this recipe today and am tempted to give it a go but I'd like to know if you have any thoughts on it:

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/f ... eera-sodha

It is the celeriac roasted as hasselback that interests me, I don't expect to make the tahini sauce or salad or to serve it on bread.

I've not used (or had AFAIK) miso before, is the miso glaze essential, or is the roasting sufficient?

brown rice syrup appears to be just sugar https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/br ... ood-or-bad

[Jenise]

Pete, I often glaze fish with miso--the flavor's outstanding but equally so is the crust the miso adds. For both reasons but perhaps especially the latter, the miso would be an enhancement to this dry vegetable. I'd love to try it! Btw, when I hasselback a potato, I brush it several times with barbecue sauce--love the flavor but I especially love the extra crust that defines the petals of the potato.

Thank, Jenise, just what I wanted to hear.

Will I be OK brushing White Miso Paste on its own, or is the syrup essential to give it stickability?

I now have the celeriac and Miso Paste on order. I want to avoid syrup on grounds of sweetness and calories

[Jenise]

Heck no on the syrup. But you'll need to dilute the miso to make it paintable--water would be just fine. I often fresh citrus juice for a fish glaze but to be honest I wouldn't want sweet on the celeriac.

As an aside, brown rice syrup is very sweet, has no fructose, but has a glycemic index of 98 (extremely high).

[Jenise]

Another aside, miso paste contains a bit of salt. You won't need to add any. The addition of the sweet syrup might have been an offset as much as anything.

Another aside, miso paste contains a bit of salt. You won't need to add any.

Thanks, but I wouldn't dream of adding salt when roasting anything.

Celariac and miso paste now added to next supermarket delivery, hopefully will be making this during week of 22 Feb

[Jenise]

Oh I know you wouldn't, you're very careful about salt. I was just warning you.

So I made Hasselback Celeriac last night, using the recipe linked to above with the exception I did not use brown rice syrup in the miso glaze

20210223_hasselback-celeriac-1.jpg

This is one view of how it looked after 90 minutes roasting, plus 15 minutes with miso glaze.

20210223_hasselback-celeriac-2.jpg

This is another view.

As I mentioned above,I didn't serve it on flatbread with the onion salad and tahini dressing

20210223_hasselback-celeriac-lentils.jpg

instead I served it with lentil Tarka Dahl

20210223_brocolli-stirfry.jpg

with a side of stir fried broccoli in oyster sauce.

It was difficult to make vertical cuts in a large tough celeriac, but cuts at an angle risked cutting out a slice, so where i found the knife at an angle I stopped before going the full depth.

I used a pastry brush to coat the celeriac inside and out with olive oil. After 45 minutes the fans had opened with those at the end lying flat on the pan. That made it easier to brush the second coating of oil. After another 45 minutes it was time to brush on the miso glaze. As I didn't use syrup the paste was probably thicker, and that helped stick the leaves of celeriac back together.

All the same, the recipe photo of the celeriac shows the leaves close together, while my photo shows wide gaps.

We did not enjoy this dish, the celeriac was tasteless, the miso did nothing for us. Mrs M, who is not a chilli lover was not even aware of the presence of the Aleppo chilli flakes; neither could I taste them.

I don't think hasselbacking the celeriac was necessary, one may as well cut slices to roast.

We won't be having this dish again, it's back to roast cauliflower steaks which do have a pleasant nutty taste after roasting - and do not need 1h45 in an oven.

Oh well...

But the broccoli with oyster sauce looks good. I'm a fan of oyster sauce.

It was, and so am I.

I wish the papers had the person that writes to column take the picture of what they've cooked rather than a 'food stylist' prepare it. Did they actually duplicate the recipe, which would take at least 2 hours with preparation and cooking, or just simulate it with paint on an uncooked celeriac?

There was a recipe in this Sunday's Telegraph that I am going to try, but although the recipe writer is insistent that the chicken thighs are 'skin off' the accompanying photo shows skin on.

See https://www.telegraph.co.uk/recipes/0/p ... en-recipe/

Those hasselback celeriac look very good.