When you want your family and friends to say 'Ooh la la!' at the table, this is the dish to impress the socks off 'em! Here we have another recipe from the wonderful book Flavour by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ixta Belfrage. (Yes, we are huge fans!)
If you've never cooked with celeriac before, this dish is a great opportunity to get acquainted with the earthy goodness of this winter root vegetable. So, first things first. What exactly is celeriac? Celeriac is a type of celery—but it won’t grow into the light green stalks you’re used to munching on. Rather, celeriac is a bulbous vegetable, similar in size to a grapefruit
Celeriac Steaks with Café de Paris Sauce
To make 4 serves, you need:
2 x large celeriac, hairy roots discarded (no need to peel) and scrubbed clean (900g)
Half cup olive oil
Flaked sea salt and cracked black pepper
For the Café de Paris sauce:
110g unsalted butter, cut into 2cm cubes
1 x shallot , finely chopped
1 x garlic clove, crushed
3 x anchovy fillets in olive oil, drained and finely chopped (optional, but adjust seasoning if not using)
1/2 tspn curry powder
1/4 tspn cayenne pepper
1 tbspn mustard powder
1 tbspn capers
1-2 tbspns each chives, tarragon, parsley, thyme, finely chopped
1/2 cup cream
squeeze lemon juice
To make:
For the whole roasted celeriac:
- Preheat the oven to 170°C fan
- Pierce the celeriac with a fork all over about 40 times and place on a parchment-lined baking tray
- Mix the oil and 3 teaspoons of flaked salt, then rub the celeriac generously with the oil mixture
- Roast for a minimum of 2¼ hours, or up to 2¾ hours, depending on the size of your celeriac, basting every 20 minutes or so, until the celeriac is deeply browned, soft all the way through and oozes a celeriac caramel
- Leave to rest for 15 minutes, then cut widthways into 2½cm-thick steaks, brushing each cut side with the oil and caramel left on the tray (you may need to add a little more oil if there isn’t enough to coat the cut sides).
For the Café de Paris Sauce:
- Put the first seven ingredients for the sauce and ¼ teaspoon of flaked salt into a small saucepan on a medium heat
- Cook for about 6 minutes, swirling the pan until the shallots have softened and the butter has melted and become golden and caramelised.
- Add the capers, herbs and a very generous grind of pepper and continue to cook for 1 minute, then remove from the heat
- Turn the oven to its highest grill setting. Arrange the celeriac steaks, spaced apart, on a large, parchment-lined baking tray big enough to fit the slices in a single layer. The steaks should have been brushed with their cooking oil and celeriac caramel by this point, but if not, brush with some olive oil and a little maple syrup or honey (see p. 54). Make sure there is no overhanging parchment that could burn
- Grill the steaks on the top shelf of the oven, until they are golden-brown on top, 6–8 minutes
- Turn the oven off, keeping the tray warm in the oven until you’re ready to serve
- Return the sauce to a medium heat and gently cook for a minute, then add the cream and lemon juice. Swirl for another 2 minutes or until warm, but don’t mix it too much – you want the sauce to be split, not emulsified.
- Pour the sauce on to a large platter with a lip and arrange the celeriac steaks on top (or plate individually with some sauce poured on top and the rest served alongside)
- Sprinkle the steaks with a little flaked salt and black pepper, and serve
