Celery Root Remoulade

I've been missing-in-action with my blog of late - lots of food related crises in my life, but more about that later.

This week the pressing food issue is what to do with all the Celery Root - also known as celeriac - I've been given as part of my weekly CSA share. I'm partial to a very French salad using celery root with a remoulade sauce and so I made it and it was wonderful. Don't be turned off by the brown nobbly appearance of your celery root, wash them, cut off the exterior and you will find a pristine creamy white interior. This salad is served at almost every bistro and cafe in Paris and once you try it you'll realize why - it is the more elegant cousin of our cole slaw.

The recipe calls for white pepper. Feel free to substitue black pepper if that's all you have.

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Celery Root Remoulade

1/4 cup high quality mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar or 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon drained capers, minced
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
a pinch of dried tarrago, crumbled
salt and freshly ground white pepper, to taste
4-6 small celery roots (about 1 1/2 pounds total), peeled and cut into matchstick pieces or shredded coarse.

In a small bowl stir together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, capers, mustard, tarragon and salt and pepper to taste until combined well.

In a large saucepan of salted boiling water cook celery root 2 minutes. Drain celery root in a sieve and refresh under cold water. Dry celery root completely. Add celery root to sauce and stir together. Chill salad until ready to serve.

Variation: add 2 Tablespoons creme fraiche or sour cream, 2 cornichons (sour gherkins), minced and 1 Tablespoon minced fresh parsley leaves to the sauce.