The Tale of Two Roots - Part 2
Continuing our celery root-focused cooking evening together, Basia introduced me to her yummy Creamy Celery Root Salad. (Use this link if you missed Part 1, and want to check it out.)
As Basia started to make her salad, I remember how it is always a bit of a brain challenge to make food in someone else’s place. One has to constantly ask where everything is. And as our rental kitchen is rather small — although very functional with a square space to move around in — we both looked forward to doing more of this in our newly renovated kitchen once we move back in.
Basia has talked about this salad with Mike and me a number of times. As it has celery root in it, we knew we would enjoy it. As she explained, this salad is a typical European style salad versus a more American style with lots of greens. It is essentially a slaw filled with several vegetable/fruit ingredients and mixed together to be creamy with a small bit of sour cream, mayonnaise and olive oil. There are also some optional ingredients you may choose to add; I added dried cranberries and cilantro the day after we enjoyed it together and it was even more delicious. This is quite a hearty salad such that I enjoyed it for lunch for several days after Basia showed me how to make it.
I envision this being a great thing to serve not just in the winter as part of a buffet spread, but also wonderful for the warmer months as a side to a barbeque meal.
Creamy Celery Root Salad
Ingredients:
1 celery root
1 medium apple
1 medium carrot
1/3 cup of orange juice – best is fresh squeezed, but you can also use packaged juice as Basia did here
Handful of walnuts
Handful of parsley sprigs
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sour cream – dairy alternative should work fine
1 tablespoon mayonnaise – dairy alternative should work fine
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
Wash vegetables and peel
Grate celery root, apple and carrot on coarse eyelet
In a medium-sized bowl mix vegetables, orange juice, chopped walnuts and parsley.
Add mayonnaise, sour cream, olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste
Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes so flavors fully combine.
Options: add raisins, cranberries, roasted honey walnuts, fresh chopped cilantro.
At the end of celery root making evening, Mike, Basia and I enjoyed a proper meal with our two celery root dishes. It was a satisfying and filling end to our evening cooking extravaganza.