German Celery Root Economics by Ruth Paget
I have to admit that when I first saw sellerieknolle, celery root, in a grocery store outside Stuttgart (Germany) when I lived there for five years, my first thought was “Ew. What is this?” as I turned one over in my hand.
Celery root looks like a bulbous turnip with splotchy brown skin. I did not buy it, but looked it up on various health sites at home and saw that celery root is rich in fiber; vitamins B6, C, and K; has several antioxidants that help remove free radicals that may cause cancer; and has significant amounts of phosphorous, potassium, and manganese. I read that its flavor is mild, has white flesh, and can be used like a potato when peeled. Celery root is also inexpensive – definitely a great value for what is in it.
Next trip to the Edeka grocery store, I bought celery root and put it in soup that I puréed with an immersion blender. I also ate it as part of restaurant meals during our stay in Germany. Recently, I found some German recipes using celery root in a Kindle cookbook called Hello! 365 Celery Recipes by Ms. Fruit for .99 cents. My favorite German recipes from this book follow:
Bayerische Schweinbraten (Bavarian Pork Roast): I first ate this meal in the town of Eschenbach outside the US military base in Vilseck (Germany) close to the Czech Republic border. The roast goes very well with Czech Pilsner Urquell beer.
The recipe in the book calls for mixing mustard with seasonings like paprika and caraway seeds and spreading this mixture over the pork before browning it on all sides. Then, you sauté onions, celeriac , and carrots in the frying pan you used to brown the pork roast before adding them to the pork along with some water.
You bake the pork roast for 2 ½ to 3 hours and make gravy with the baking juices and puréed vegetables, if you would like The result is fork tender. The pork roast I ate in Eschenbach came with sweet braised red cabbage and two large dumplings. I loved being able to eat a Bavarian Sunday lunch in Germany and having the recipe to recreate this delicious large family dish here in California.
In Stuttgart, I did more mundane dishes with celery root like celery root and potato purée, which the cookbook makes with the addition of cream after boiling the vegetables. I add butter to this dish and cream, because fat helps ward off cold weather as I learned during my Michigan upbringing.
Another winning recipe from this cookbook is Chef John’s Root Vegetable Gratin. A German secret is to sauté vegetables before putting into bake in a gratin. Chef John’s recipe calls for potatoes, turnips, rutabagas, celery root, and parsnips flavored with garlic, butter, chicken broth, cream, and Parmesan cheese.
There is also a great recipe for Creamy German Potato Soup made with onions, carrots, celeriac, tomatoes, and potatoes that is blended till smooth with an immersion blender.
Finally, a popular vorspeisen, appetizer, is made with celery root, onion, vinegar, sugar, and rapeseed oil. This simple recipe tastes perky all year round. I often ate this salad before eating pork medallion meals in restaurants.
I would wholeheartedly say that Hello! 365 Celery Recipes by Ms. Fruit on Kindle for .99 cents is a terrific buy. Economical celery has multiple uses in many cultures, which Ms. Fruit documents well.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
