WHAT IS CELERIAC ROOT RECIPES

Steps:

• 1. This is the most underrated vegetable in the whole of the United Kingdom. It's available in every single supermarket, we walk past it all the time, and yet we still take no notice of it. It's an incredible vegetable, it's really good for you and you only need to use 2 or 3 ingredients to bring it to life and blow people's socks off.
  2. Shave off the celeriac ends and throw them away, then use your knife to peel away the outside skin, cutting away any cracks and crannies as you go. Once you've cut the edge you’ll be able to see the thickness of the skin you need to peel away. Chop the celeriac up into slices, then into rough 1cm cubes.
  3. Put a casserole-type pan on a medium-high heat and add a lug of olive oil. Rip in the lemon thyme - the smells from this will be outrageous – then go straight in with the diced celeriac and a generous pinch of salt. Turn the heat down to medium, pop the lid on and cook for 20 to 25 minutes, or until tender. Make sure you keep it moving - you want it to fry lightly from the bottom, and kind of steam in its own moisture.
  4. At this stage, you have two choices. You can either serve it up blonde or you can take the lid off and fry for a further 4 minutes or so, to take the colour much darker. This is such a flexible recipe, you can make it the day before and reheat when you need, or you can blitz it up with some stock for a delicious soup. Give it a try.

Steps:

• 1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºC/gas 5.
  2. Trim, wash and slice the leeks 1cm thick, scrub and cut the carrots into rough chunks and finely slice the celery. Peel and finely slice the garlic, pick the thyme leaves, discarding the stalks, and finely slice the bacon.
  3. Heat a lug of oil in a large casserole pan on a medium heat, then add the bacon. Scatter in the thyme leaves and fry for a few minutes, or until the bacon is golden.
  4. Next, add the leeks, carrots, celery and garlic and cook for around 10 minutes, or until the leeks start to soften, stirring regularly. Meanwhile, peel and roughly chop the celeriac and parsnips, then roughly chop the potatoes.
  5. Add the chicken, celeriac, parsnips and potatoes to the pan. Stir in the Marmite, add a good grinding of black pepper and stir to coat.
  6. Pour in the hot stock, bring to the boil, then turn the heat down to low. Crumple up and wet a piece of greaseproof paper, then open it out and place on top of the stew. Cover with a lid and pop in the oven for 1 hour, or until the chicken is super-tender.
  7. When the time’s up, gently break the chicken up into the stew, then serve up in bowls. I like to serve this with broccoli on the side. Sometimes I top it with puff pastry or I stir it through pasta for a really tasty sauce.