It’s Gonna Be A Long Night!

I just returned from my final trip to the CSA for the year. At the end of the season they have what is called the annual ‘pig out’ in which members essentially take whatever was leftover at the farm. We were allocated 50 lbs of whatever produce we wanted. Only minor catch was that we need to come up with 15% of the total weight in either broccoli, cauliflower, collards or kale. The 15% will go to the local food bank just in time for Thanksgiving! A wonderful way to give back to the community.

I was only to make our way to broccoli on the food bank list so we had a whole bucket full of large heads for charity. I was more than happy to take the side shoots, less work on my part for steaming. I found out that they had purple cauliflower when I dropped off our donation. I was heart broken, my mother makes the meanest purple cream of cauliflower soup. I ran out of time as the twins were on the verge of having a meltdown from lack of nap.

Nevertheless, we were blessed to come up with the following veggies for our freezer this winter:

• Beets (3 kinds)
• Turnips
• Kholrabi
• Radishes (2 kinds)
• Broccoli (lots of it!)
• Celeriac and Cooking Celery
• Daikon (including a near 2-footer!)

Much of the celery stalks were damaged from the frost, but was able to salvage a fair amount for cooking purposes only. Celeriac has been sliced and steam blanched. I froze them in small batches to use as needed. I already saved a hassle for Thanksgiving vegetable side dish with the broccoli and the rest is going in the deep freeze.

Tomorrow I will tackle the beets as it is going to be a very messy affair. Old grubby clothes will be my fashion statement. The turnips and radishes I will do last.

Regarding my previous dillema as to what to do about next season it is still up in the air. We timed the driving at best to be bit over 45 minutes, fifteen minutes longer than our usual boxed share pick up.

Decisions decisions…

Scalloped Potatoes With Celeriac

The last two weeks of our CSA boxed delivery and we get for the first time celeriac or better known as celery root. I have always seen them in the grocery store but never knew what to do with it so I never bothered to try them until now. It was suggested to try to make scalloped potatoes with added celeriac, so I gave it a shot. I initially used this recipe, as a base since I never made scalloped potatoes from scratch, but made some adjustments which is marked with an asterisk (*). Still needs work as you will see in my notes below, but it is a great start and will try again.

Ingredients:

3 tbs butter
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp dried minced garlic*
1/8 tsp dried thyme*
2 cups chicken broth or vegetarian equivalent
1 1/2 cups grated extra sharp cheddar cheese
1 lb boiling potatoes*
1 lb celeriac root peeled*
1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs*
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

In a heavy saucepan, melt butter over moderately low heat and whisk in flour to make a roux for about 2 – 3 minutes. Whisk in broth and bring to a boil. Whisk in garlic and thyme and simmer for about 2 more minutes, then whisk again until thickened. Remove from heat and whisk in cheese and any salt and pepper you wish to add, until cheese is fully melted.

Peel potatoes (optional) and celeriac (a must) and slice to about 1/8 inch thick. In a 2-quart shallow baking dish, butter or spray cooking oil and make a layer of potatoes and sauce, celeriac and sauce, and repeat until you have between 4 – 5 layers. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top and bake uncovered in the oven for 1 hour or until potatoes are tender.

Overall Impressions

Not sure if it was my oven, but 1 hour does not cut it, more like an hour and thirty minutes. The celeriac took longer to soften. Will try raising the temp to 375 and see if that helps. Also even with the extra sharp cheddar and added spices I found it somewhat bland. Will go for fresh minced garlic next time and add more thyme and a stronger cheese like parmesean or a vecchio asiago d’Allevo.

One thing I found with peeling celeriac is that like apples, it browns quickly. So I would recommend preparing at the last possible moment. But the flavor should not diminish.