Celeriac, Celery, and Courgette….

By Andrea Cullen

28th June 2014

This is a dead handy raw salad; that may start you off on a campaign to invest in a spiralizer. The 3 C’s in this salad are celeriac, celery, and courgette. If you live in the USA tough luck as the 3C’s become 2Cs and a Z.

This is a spiralizer

I don’t own one (yet; its on the wish list) so I used a food processor

or you could do it the old-fashioned way!

Consider this recipe an idea for any of a number of variations. Carrots, courgettes, celeriac, cucumber and raw beets all make great raw spirals. I poshed this salad up with sultanas and toasted pine nuts and dressed it in layer of Balsamic dressing.

Healthy, speedy, tasty.

This dish brings back memories of the traditional celeriac salad that was often served to me when I was at school in France back in the 1990s! At the time I had no clue what the vegetable actually was; celeriac had not then made it to Irish shores!

Celeriac is a root vegetable related to celery, it is low in calories and carbohydrates and so is often used as a potato substitute when steamed, boiled, mashed or roasted. Raw it has a taste similar to celery and parsley. Celeriac is a cheap affordable vegetable; one worth getting ton know if you are on a food budget.

Nutritionally celeriac is rich in fibre and a helpful contributor of the minerals magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, manganese, and potassium; and of vitamins C and B6. These are all helpful nutrients for the bones, joints, and the nervous system.  Celeriac is low in glycaemic load and as a vegetable is pretty much one of those free-for-alls.

Don’t undo the good work by loading on mayonnaise when eating this raw!!

Traditionally in France celeriac is used to make Celeriac Remolade and a grated celeriac salad dressed with a vinegar based dressing. I had a quick google search to open your mind to more several options in addition to my recipe below.

This is a traditional recipe for Celeriac Remolade; traditional meaning that it comes with the full fat mayo; but heck now and again if it is real mayonnaise this will not kill you 🙂

This recipe here as shown in the photo below uses tarragon to give a twist to a celeriac remolade

Here is a celeriac salad dish made with radishes and watercress; this is delightfully healthy: Celery root, watercress and radish salad.

Celeriac can be finely shredded and dressed with a vinegratte; this is how I enjoyed celeriac in France. I am struggling to find a recipe on google to share with you. Perhaps this is because it is such a simple recipe. A nice apple cider vinegratte can be made from 1 cup extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, 1/2 cup honey, and 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar; simply mix through your shredded celeriac and season to taste.

If you wished to make a dairy-free but creamy celeriac salad or to adapt the celeriac remolade recipe you could consider using an Avocado dressing instead of mayonnaise. For example blitz juice of 1 lemon, 1 large avocado, sea salt or Himalayan salt, freshly ground black pepper, and olive oil together and use this instead of mayonnaise. If you wished to experiment with fresh herbs then basil, parsley, or coriander will compliment the dressing and celeriac well.

Apple cider vinegar

avocados

Celeriac remolade

Why not marry crunchy apples with celeriac? Another fresh tasting salad can be made mixing spiralized/ grated apple with grated celeriac and tossing in lemon juice, olive oil, sea salt and toasted pumpkin seeds. Adding chopped parsley to this salad will punch in  Vitamin K weight and a touch of green to an otherwise very white coloured salad!

Andrea’s 3 C’s Salad ingredients:

• Celeriac
• Courgettes
• Celery – sliced
• Sultanas
• Toasted pine-nuts
• Optional chopped fresh parsley

Celeriac

Courgettes

Celery

Sultanas

pine-nuts

Directions:

1. Wash all your veggies well 🙂
2. Grate, shred or spiralize the celeriac and courgettes.
3. Toss into a large bowl with the celery, sultanas and toasted pine-nuts (and parsley if using).
4. Yup that’s it!

For the dressing I recommend this olive oil, balasamic vinegar and Dijon mustard dressing. Coat the salad well and enjoy!

Olive oil, Balsamic vinegar and Dijon Mustard dressing:

This dressing is my tried and trusted dressing and due to the way I cook when speed is of the essence, never gets measured out accurately. I simply take the following ingredients in the following approximate amounts and shake well in a glass jar. This dressing lasts well when stored in the fridge; shake well before use.

• Extra virgin olive oil or a mixed blend of cold pressed oils
• Balsamic vinegar – approximately two parts oil to one part vinegar
• 2 tablespoons approximately Dijon mustard
• 1-2 teaspoons Irish honey
• Generous amount of freshly ground black pepper
• Optional fresh or dried herbs such as rosemary, oregano, parsley or coriander taste delicious in this dressing.

Enjoy, please do leave your feedback and suggestions.

Love

Andrea

.