Celeriac and Spicy Tomato Bake

From GoonsWithSpoons
Revision as of 17:45, 8 October 2006 by CMB (talk | contribs)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Introduction

The celeriac isn't the most well known vegetable in the world, I hadn't heard of it at all until a friend cooked me some nice spicy celeriac chips.

Celeriac, also called turnip rooted celery or knob celery (teehee), is grown for its globular root which has a celery-like flavor. It is usually about 4 inches in diameter at maturity. Meet the celeriac:

Celeriac1.jpg

It looks incredibly ugly, has the consistency of potato and tastes a bit like celery. I really like it! You should be able to find celeriac in most supermarkets.


Ingredients

From left to right:

Celeriac2.jpg

  • Tomato Puree
  • 400g tomatoes
  • Ground cinammon (1tsp)
  • Parsley (4tsp)
  • 1 celeriac
  • 1 bay leaf
  • one spash of red wine (or red wine vinegar)
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • a couple of chillis
  • one large onion
  • 50g breadcrumbs
  • 50g grated cheese


Preparation

This dish is very quick to prepare, but takes upwards of an hour to cook. Begin by finely slicing the garlic, chilli and onion:

Celeriac3.jpg

Add to a large frying pan and fry gently for ten minutes:

Celeriac4.jpg

After the ten minutes is up, add 150ml water, your tomatoes (roughly chopped), 1tsp cinnamon, 4tsp parsley, the bay leaf, a bit of tomato puree and a generous dash of red wine (or red wine vinegar):

Celeriac5.jpg

Turn down the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, using a wooden spoon to help break down the tomatoes:

Celeriac6.jpg

Whilst waiting for the spicy tomato sauce to finish cooking, peel the celeriac (make sure that none of the skin remains, it tastes pretty unpleasant) and dice it. Boil up some water.

Celeriac7.jpg

Don't forget to give the sauce an occasional stir, the tomatoes should break down almost completely in the sauce:

Celeriac8.jpg

When ten minutes remain on the sauce timer, plunge your celeriac cubes into the boiling water and sit back for ten minutes.

Celeriac9.jpg

Drain the celeriac well and cover the bottom of an oven proof dish with the celeriac cubes:

Celeriac10.jpg

After discarding the bay leaf pour the spicy tomato sauce over the celeraiac, then on top of that, your grated cheese and breadcrumbs:

Celeriac11.jpg

Bake in the oven (190 degrees celsius) for a further 30 minutes. Serve immediately. A very hearty and filling vegetable bake:

Celeriac12.jpg

I forgot to take photos of the finished dish, so here is a quarter of the bake, reheated for lunch the next day:

Celeriac13.jpg