BEST OF JANUARY

Rosie Birkett shares her favourite recipes using this earthy, underrated root veg

Rosie Birkett’s four best ways to use celeriac

I’ve been enchanted by celeriac ever since that fateful day on a French campsite, 20 or so years ago, when I first tasted its pearly flesh. Cloaked in mayonnaise, Dijon mustard and chopped parsley, I ate it with rotisserie chicken and a crusty baguette from the local shop. And then, an hour or so later, I greedily scooped it from the container in the caravan’s fridge door while my unsuspecting parents sipped G&TS. It is, without a doubt, a Proustian experience whenever I have it now. Despite it being a variety of celery, it’s firmer, creamier, nuttier and sweeter than its green cousin.

Celeriac remoulade is the dish for which this underrated veg is best known, but there is so much more to it than that French staple. Once you’ve battled past its gnarly exterior, the possibilities are vast. Mixed with grated potatoes, eggs and sage leaves and fried in brown butter, it makes the most delicious rosti-style dish (find the recipe on bbcgoodfood.com). Cooked in chicken or vegetable stock, or milk, then puréed, it’s a good base for creamy, complex soups; cubed and roasted until caramelised, it makes a welcome topping for, or addition to, risottos, pastas, rice dishes and winter salads.

It’s become popular to salt-bake whole celeriac, and for good reason: the salt draws out moisture, concentrating the flavour and seasoning the veg, however, I won’t ask you to make a salt crust for the recipe on page 54 (after all, you might want to make it midweek, and January is difficult enough as it is). Instead, you’ll just need to roast wedges of celeriac on a bed of sea salt for a similar flavour, then brush it with a punchy glaze of butter and gochujang. The latter is a fermented Korean red pepper paste that is sweet, savoury, spicy and funky at once. It keeps in the fridge for ages and can be used in marinades, to give oomph to braises and stews, or in mayonnaise – there’s a whole world of fermented chilli out there for you to explore. But, I won’t blame you if you just use it to make this glaze on repeat. If you can’t get hold of gochujang, a good-quality hot sauce such as sriracha will suffice, or play around with chilli powders. The beauty of this dish is the contrast between the sweet, earthy celeriac and the hot, buttery, citrussy glaze. Once the celeriac is glazed, it’s roasted and basted a final time, and meanwhile, you can rustle up the creamy cumin-spiked black beans and fresh green salsa. This makes a satisfying meat-free main, but you can adapt the elements and use this version of celeriac for other dishes.

I also like to peel celeriac into ribbons and treat it like pasta. It works much better than courgetti as a wheat-free alternative because it retains that all-important al dente bite and has more intrinsic flavour to start. Lovely with slow-cooked meat ragus – particularly pork – it’s also delicious tossed with sage butter and jarred artichoke hearts, as on page 54, for a speedy midweek meal. It might be a fight to get into, but celeriac has many charms, and I hope you’ll unlock some of them with these recipes.

I peel celeriac into ribbons and treat it like pasta