I saw celery root at the market the other day and my hubby told me he had never eaten it before so we got it. It has been ages since I ate or cooked with it and a creamy and crunchy gratin was the perfect way to use it. We ate it as a main course with a simple salad, but it’s also nice to accompany it with some meat. It makes a great side dish for the holidays.
Ingredients:
1 celery root, peeled and thinly sliced
600gr of potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon of butter
2 shallots, minced
Sprinkle of garlic powder
5 sprigs of thyme
200gr crème fraiche
250gr cream
½ teaspoon of salt or more to taste
Pepper
For the crust:
70gr of pecans, chopped
½ cup Panko
40gr grated Parmesan cheese
¼ cup breadcrumbs
10 sprigs of thyme
½ teaspoon of salt
Pepper
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F
Peel and thinly slice the celery root and potatoes. You can use a mandolin or a knife.
Melt the butter in a pan, add the shallots, thyme and garlic powder. Cook until the shallots are translucent. Remove from the heat.
In a large bowl, mix the crème fraiche, the cream and the melted butter mixture. Add salt and pepper and the sliced celery root and potatoes. Mix with your hands until all the slices are coated.
Coat an oven dish with butter. Then arrange the slices of celery root and potato. With the help of a spatula, scrape all off the cream from the bowl and pour into the oven dish. Shake the dish a bit to let the slices settle. Bake until the potatoes are tender, you can pierce them with a knife. It will take about 1 hour
To make the crust, just mix all of the ingredients in a bowl. Sprinkle the crust over the gratin and then broil until golden. Be careful not to burn it.
Serve warm.
I love the celery root gratin more than the more known potato gratin. It’s so much more flavorful and moist. And you’ve added such a tasty topping to it – can’t beat that! 🙂
Thanks! It’s true, celery root has a particular flavor which is very nice. The topping is the cherry on top 🙂