Café Boulud Celery Duo
This duo — celery root purée and glazed celery — is adapted from Daniel Boulud’s Café Boulud Cookbook. Each of the two components is wonderful on its own, showing a different delicious side of an underrated vegetable. Put them both together with short ribs braised in red wine (also from The Café Boulud Cookbook), and you’ve got a spectacular dish worthy of the most special occasions.
Over the years, we’ve tweaked the original celery recipe a bit, ricing the potatoes so they don’t become gluey (rather than puréeing them in the food processor with the celery root, which is too fibrous to be riced). We also skip flavoring the glazed celery with carrot and turnip, feeling it adds a little, but not enough to justify the extra steps and ingredients. (It’s still really good, and simpler!) If you don’t find nice, fat tightly formed celery bunches but do find celery hearts, use those; if they’re not large, use three or four of them. For the purée, feel free to play with the proportion of celery root to potatoes, according to your taste.
The Café Boulud Cookbook, published in 1999, was written by Daniel Boulud and Dorie Greenspan.
Makes 8 servings.
Ingredients
For the celery root purée
1 quart whole milk
2 tablespoons coarse sea salt
2 pounds celery root, peeled and cut into 8 pieces
1 pound medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut in half
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces, at room temperature
Salt
Freshly ground white pepper
For the GLAZed celery
2 thick bunches celery
1 tablespoons olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground white pepper
2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
Instructions
1. To make the celery root purée, pour the milk in a large saucepan with 4 cups water, the coarse salt, celery root and potatoes, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Lower the heat to medium-low and simmer until the celery root is tender when stuck with a fork, about 25 minutes. Drain the vegetables, return them to the pan, and toss them in the pan over low heat until they lose their excess moisture.
2. Put the potatoes through a potato ricer back into the large saucepan (no need to wash it), or if you don’t have a ricer, put them whole back into the saucepan and mash them with a potato masher until they’re very smooth. Set aside.
3. Place the celery root in the bowl of a food processor, add the butter and process until smooth and creamy. Scrape it into the large saucepan with the riced/mashed potatoes, stir well to combine, and season to taste with salt and pepper. (Note: The purée can be made up to 6 hours ahead. Let it cool, lay plastic film on the surface, and refrigerate. When you’re ready to serve it, heat it in the top of a double-boiler, or gently in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, stirring as you reheat it.)
4. For the glazed celery, trim the bottom of each bunch of celery bunch, but leave the stalks attached. Slice the top parts off, so the attached bunches are 5 inches long, then remove tough outer stalks (there may be three or four). Save these, along with the trimmed tops of the stalk, for another use. Run a vegetable peeler up and down the exterior of the two bunches, removing the strings, then cut each lenghthwise into quarters.
5. Warm the oil in a large sauté pan, skillet or braiser over medium heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the celery quarters, season with salt and pepper, a cook for about three minutes, using tongs to turn the celery as it cooks so it doesn’t color. Pour in the broth, raise heat to high and bring to a boil. Adjust the heat down so that the broth is simmering steadily and continue simmering for about 25 minutes, or until the liquid is nearly gone and the celery is lightly glazed with the broth; they should feel tender when poked with a fork. You can serve the celery right away, or hold it on the stove for up to an hour and gently rewarm it before serving. Or make it ahead up to 6 hours, chill it and rewarm it gently before serving.
Café Boulud Celery Duo
Ingredients
- 1 quart whole milk
- 2 tablespoons coarse sea salt
- 2 pounds celery root, peeled and cut into 8 pieces
- 1 pound medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut in half
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces, at room temperature
- Salt
- Freshly ground white pepper
- 2 thick bunches celery
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- Salt
- Freshly ground white pepper
- 2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
Instructions
- To make the celery root purée, pour the milk in a large saucepan with 4 cups water, the coarse salt, celery root and potatoes, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Lower the heat to medium-low and simmer until the celery root is tender when stuck with a fork, about 25 minutes. Drain the vegetables, return them to the pan, and toss them in the pan over low heat until they lose their excess moisture.
- Put the potatoes through a potato ricer back into the large saucepan (no need to wash it), or if you don’t have a ricer, put them whole back into the saucepan and mash them with a potato masher until they’re very smooth. Set aside.
- Place the celery root in the bowl of a food processor, add the butter and process until smooth and creamy. Scrape it into the large saucepan with the riced/mashed potatoes, stir well to combine, and season to taste with salt and pepper. (Note: The purée can be made up to 6 hours ahead. Let it cool, lay plastic film on the surface, and refrigerate. When you’re ready to serve it, heat it in the top of a double-boiler, or gently in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, stirring as you reheat it.)
- For the glazed celery, trim the bottom of each bunch of celery bunch, but leave the stalks attached. Slice the top parts off, so the attached bunches are 5 inches long, then remove tough outer stalks (there may be three or four). Save these, along with the trimmed tops of the stalk, for another use. Run a vegetable peeler up and down the exterior of the two bunches, removing the strings, then cut each lenghthwise into quarters.
- Warm the oil in a large sauté pan, skillet or braiser over medium heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the celery quarters, season with salt and pepper, a cook for about three minutes, using tongs to turn the celery as it cooks so it doesn’t color. Pour in the broth, raise heat to high and bring to a boil. Adjust the heat down so that the broth is simmering steadily and continue simmering for about 25 minutes, or until the liquid is nearly gone and the celery is lightly glazed with the broth; they should feel tender when poked with a fork. You can serve the celery right away, or hold it on the stove for up to an hour and gently rewarm it before serving. Or make it ahead up to 6 hours, chill it and rewarm it gently before serving.
