Celery root salad (celeri rémoulade)

Ok, if you are like me and just went through yet another gargantuan Holiday feast and need to rest your stomach, you should really try this refreshing dish!

Celery root, or celeriac, is a great winter root vegetable to mash or prepare scalloped au gratin, but also tastes amazing when prepared raw in salads. In France, we often prepare it grated in a lemony mayonnaise sauce, full of diced cornichons (French gherkins) and capers: Celeri Remoulade. Such a classic salad, it is served at least once a week in school cafeterias for kids.

Very easy to prepare, only a handful of ingredients and so fresh tasting. Try it and let me know what you think :)


INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
- 1 medium-sized celery root
- 1/2 cup light mayonnaise (I personnaly like the chemical fat free store bought mayonnaise better, go figure... but you can -and should- absolutely make your own if you prefer to!)
- 1 tsp dijon mustard (Not necessary if you include a spoonful of mustard in your homemade mayonnaise when you make it, however if your own mayo recipe does not have mustard, the tangy taste of Dijon mustard really makes a difference in the salad)
- 1/2 cup of combined gherkins and capers (that may seem like a lot, but I like my Remoulade on the pickle-y side)
- a handful of flat leaf parsley
- 1 lemon
- salt and pepper to taste


RECIPE:
- in a large bowl, add the juice of the lemon in about 3 cups of very cold water. Peel and grate the celery root and soak it in the cold lemony water while you prepare the sauce

- dice the gherkins very finely (about the size of the capers), and add to the mayonnaise, mustard, salt and pepper. Mix well and pour over the drained (and towel dried) grated celery root.

- Make sure that the celery is well coated and sprinkle with chopped parsley.
- Enjoy!

PS: this salad is an amazing side to a nice grilled steak ;)

Pork chops Piccata

Here is the step-by-step pictorial how-to for the pork chops Piccata in the Nov'11 to Nov'12 photo-recap post :)


Dredge 4 pork chops with seasoned flour (salt and pepper, and for a little extra oomph and if you have it powdered loomi), and brown them on both sides in 2 tbsp of melted butter. The taste of butter makes a real difference here, so I really would not recommend oil.


Set the browned chops on a plate and add a finely chopped shallot in the same pan (with remaining butter and brown bits and juices) and cook until soft. This step will start to deglaze the juices from the pan.

Then add a half-glass of white wine (I used Pinot Grigio, which I also drank with the meal afterwards) and the same amount of chicken broth, a finely chopped clove of garlic and a half a cup of capers.

Once the pan is deglazed and the shallots and garlic are soft, put the chops back into the pan and cook all the way through (about 7-8 minutes).
At this point, the liquid will combine with the flour and thicken the sauce. If the sauce gets too dry before the pork is cooked, add a little chicken stock, 1 tbsp at a time. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon (fresh) into the pan right before plating.


Serve with starch of choice. I used a store-bought mix of quinoa and wild rice, but mashed potatoes, fresh pasta or plain rice would be fine too. If so inclined, you can also serve with green veggies such as green beans. I think that would work well with this dish.
Sprinkle a few parsley leaves and voila!



Bon appetit!