GNARLY: Potato celery root gratin

Annalena has made no secret of her rather unwieldly cookbook collection.  What she HAS kept secret is that, at this point, she rarely looks for recipes in them.  This is true, ragazzi, and it is NOT because she is such an expert she doesn't need them.  Rather, it comes from two points: first, she's too lazy to do so.  Second, by and large, Annalena, as do all of you, rests on the same techniques and principles for her cooking.  A breaded fish, is a breaded fish.  Want pasta sauce?  What's in the fridge?  And so on and so forth.    Sounds familiar, doesn't it?  And it speaks to general principles:  keep your fridge and pantry stocked with good stuff, learn some basics, and you'll never need to read Annalena for anything other than entertainment again.

Except... sometimes, she DOES go to them for inspiration.  In deciding to make lentil soup, Annalena was tired of her regular recipe, so she looked for inspiration, and went to her collection of cookbooks from Greens restaurant.  This is always something that can be very time consuming because, there's always "that" recipe that strikes her as something she should try.  And THAT one.  And THAT one... So it was, and you will be seeing this happen in days and even weeks to come, as Annalena looks for inspiration for her fall and winter vegetables.

This time, one of the books fell open to a recipe for "celery root gratin."  Now, Annalena LOVES celery root.  And this is not a vegetable that is easy to love.  She thinks that "gnarly" may have been invented to describe it:




See what she means?  All that green stuff, and all that brown stuff, will have to go off of the thing before you cook it.  But what you will wind up with is something that tastes in between potatoes and celery.  It is SO good.  The French know this.  They serve it raw, in celery root remoulade, which is essentially sliced celery root and mayonnaise.  Nuthin wrong with that, huh kids? 

But this recipe was intriguing:  a baked cheese dish with celery root.  EXCEPT... there was no cheese in it.  Only as an option.  It was, in fact, a vegan recipe which COULD be made dairy vegetarian.  That is how Annalena made it.  As with so many recipes here, it is easy.  VERY easy.  And if you are willing to take out a good knife and clean a couple of the above monsters,  you will be rewarded with a beautiful, unique, and tasty dish.  And Annalena asserts it belongs on your Thanksgiving table.

Here we go.  First, you need a baking dish that will accommodate about three pounds of ingredients.  Something  like a deep dish 9 inch pie pan, or a 9x9 square should do it.  If you have nothing that big, divide this.    For ingredients, you will need about a cup and a half of a tomato product (we will come to this below), a pound and a half of potatoes (more on this below too), and about a pound and a half of celery root.  That's probably two medium sized one, but ask your farmer to weigh them.  And if you want the cheese option, 3-4 ounces of a good strong cheese, like gruyere, or a good swiss (which is what Annalena used).

Preheat your oven to 375 while you prep the ingredients.  For the tomato product:  the recipe called for a cup and a half of tomat sauce.  Annalena had sauce on hand, but she also had a very large heirloom tomato, the second of two which were giving her the snake eye.  So, she chopped it, salted it, and mixed it with olive oil. Fine, fine fine.

For your potatoes:  you're going to be boiling them, so red skins are best, or yukon golds.  Actually, anything but russets will do.  The russets will fall apart on  you, rather than stay in the slices you need.

Get a pot of water (don't heat it yet).  Peel your potatoes, and slice them into about 1/3 inch slices.  Get them in cold water, add salt, and bring them to a simmer.  You will want to cook them for about five minutes, which will not completely cook them, but will get them started.

While that's happening, prep your celery root.  No peeler here folks.  Get a big strong knife.  Cut the bottom half inch off to make it sit up straight, then the green stuff on top, and then just cut down like you're peeling a pineapple.  After you have the large, white "thang," cut it in half, lengthwise, and then cut those into slices about the size of the potato slices.

By now, the potatoes should be done.  Get them out with a strainer so  you can reuse the water for the celery root (Hurricane Sandy did teach Annalean something).    The celery root, too, cooks for about five minutes.  And now, drain that. 

You will have two, separate bowls of vegetables.  You need to let them cool a bit, and then we can get started.

Put half of your tomatoes on the bottom of your dish.  Now, layer potatoes and celery root, alternating slices, in rings.  Pack it tight.  If you are using the cheese option, put half of it, either in small chunks, cubes or grated, over this layer.  Now repeat the tomatoes, the vegetables, and the cheese.  You should be done with all.  IF you have left over vegetables, toss them on top.

Put the whole thing, uncovered, into the oven for 45 minutes.  Your home is going to smell wonderful and when it comes out of the oven... OH, MY.  This is one where Annalena wishes she had taken a picture.

That did not sound like much work, did it?  And it's not.  You could do this in a little more than an hour, and your work time is on the order of twenty minutes.

Try something different, ragazzi.  You will become acquainted with a vegetable which, Annalena warns you, may become an obsession...