Rebecca’s Recipe of the Week: A French Classic | Canalside Community Food

Celeriac rémoulade, shredded celery-root salad, is a familiar sight in French delis, alongside shredded carrot salad. It’s very easy to make and surprisingly elegant. The fresh, wood-sy taste of the celeriac provides a good contrast to richer flavours, so this goes particularly well with pork, and also lentils.

The only trick is to make sure you use a good mayonnaise. If you have a stick (immersion) blender, then it couldn’t be easier to make some yourself.

Celeriac remoulade
Serves 2-3 as a side dish.

Ingredients
3 tablespoons good mayonnaise
1 tablespoon good mustard. I like to use a grainy variety
3 tablespoons double cream, crème fraîche, or wholemilk yoghurt
3 tablespoons parsley, chopped
1 medium celeriac (about 450g)
juice of half a lemon—and perhaps the other half as well
1-2 tablespoons capers, optional
1-2 tablespoons gherkins, chopped, optional
salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation
Mix together the mayonnaise, mustard, cream or yoghurt, and parsley.

Peel the celeriac, either with a knife or a robust vegetable peeler. Shred it into shreds. The size is up to you—aim for anything between a matchstick and the coarse side of a standard box grater. Toss them with the lemon juice so that they don’t discolour.

Toss with the mayonnaise dressing. Add the capers and/or gherkins, if you wish, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Check to see if you think it would benefit from a bit more lemon juice, or a bit more mustard.

It’s better if you leave it for about 30 minutes, but it’s pretty good just as it is.

Recipe adapted from Nigel Slater.