Celeriac remoulade
side | vegan | winter
Crunchy, nutty and faintly fennelly, celeriac is the ideal base for this classic winter salad.
Prep 20 min
Cook n/a
Serves 2-4
Ingredients
500g celeriac (i.e. about ⅔ of a smallish head)
½ lemon
4 tbsp dijon mustard
75ml fairly neutral oil
2 tbsp white-wine vinegar
salt and pepper
1 small bunch soft green herbs of your choice (chives, tarragon, parsley, dill or a mixture), finely chopped, to serve
Method
- Peel the celeriac, then cut it into matchsticks; you can use a food processor or julienne cutter, or cut it into 1.5mm-thick slices, stack these on top of each other and cut into batons of a similar thickness. As you work, periodically squeeze the lemon juice on top of the cut celeriac, to stop it discolouring.
- You can now use the celeriac as is, but I like to blanch it, too. Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil, dunk in the celeriac for a couple of seconds, then immediately rinse under cold water, drain well and pat dry.
- To make the dressing, put the mustard in a small heatproof bowl, beat in two tablespoons of boiling water, then whisk in the oil and vinegar. Season to taste, stirring in more mustard if you’d prefer a punchier dressing.
- Toss the dressing through the celeriac, to coat. You can now serve the remoulade immediately, but I think it’s best left for a while to let the flavours mingle. Top with chopped herbs before serving.
Tips
Toss the shredded roots quickly in lemon juice to stop them discolouring and to tenderise them. The dressing should be just thick enough to cling to the roots – in other words creamy without being soupy. Thin the sauce down with lemon juice if it gets too thick. Don't attempt to keep it overnight. It will become soft and claggy as the celeriac soaks up the dressing. Chop the herbs finely – this is not the time for roughly chopped.
The twist
Beetroot remoulade has a more vibrant colour and a mixture of celeriac and beets is good, but should be lightly mixed so as not to turn the dressing raspberry pink. Poppy seeds, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds make unorthodox but welcome additions, as do chopped toasted walnuts. A lighter dressing can be made using fromage frais instead of crème fraîche.
Nigel Slater's alternative recipe.