We live in a beautiful day in age where we have the technology to coax nutrition from Central Oregon soil year round, and Rainshadow Organics has become so good at reading the ground and finding what it will produce. This intuition has led to a winter bounty of roots and hearty greens.
One of those beautiful things is celeriac root. Oh my god, how I love celeriac root. It grows well here in the Central Oregon climate, and its gnarled, contorted body is as formidable as the juniper growing all around us. I love getting it in the winter CSAs, and its rich, tender flesh lends itself to hearty dishes, like this one.
It is reminiscent of a dish I had traveling through London, in a quaint little Jewish cafe I wandered into. Little did I know it was incredibly famous. This Middle Eastern dish knocked my socks off and I had to adapt it the moment I returned back to the United States. Now you need it. Grab your celeriac root. Let’s do this.
Ingredients:
-1 giant celeriac bulb… or whatever size, really
-Gorgonzola Cheese
-Prosciutto
-Raw Hazelnuts
-Celery Leaf Herb Oil:
(Celery Leaves)
(Olive Oil)
(Juice of one lemon)…. Puree these three things together with a pinch of salt.
Procedure:
-Heat oven to 400F
-Remove skin from celeriac and slice half inch rounds.
-Drizzle celeriac with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
-Bake for 40 minutes or so until tender. Remove and sprinkle with crumbled Gorgonzola and return to the oven, turned off so it can get all melty.
-Roughly crush 1/2 cup of hazelnuts and toss in a medium high pan until golden toasty. They burn quickly! You have to watch this step. it only takes a couple minutes!
-Crisp up a couple prosciutto slices in a non stick pan.
-Assemble with: 1. Celeriac with gorgonzola. 2. Toasted hazelnuts. 3. Prosciutto chip. 4. Drizzle of celeriac leaf herb oil.
Oh so tasty. Go make it. You can thank me later.