Baby Celeriac

I have been patiently growing celeriac in the raised vege gardens we put in last Christmas holidays. Many of my crops are a bit of an experiment. I am trying to grow things that are not always easy to find at the supermarket or things we really like. I read yesterday that now is about the right time to harvest them. After pulling the first one up it was pretty evident that one bulb would not feed us as a side dish as the recipe below suggests. In fact I pulled up all of the 10 plants. It almost felt criminal they were so small.

The recipe though was easy to follow and really nice...even thought the portions were VERY small.

Jamie Oliver recipe

Smashed Celeriac

• 1 celeriac, peeled
• olive oil
• 1 handful of fresh thyme, leaves picked
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3–4 tablespoons water or stock

Slice about 1cm/½ inch off the bottom of your celeriac and roll it on to that flat edge, so it's nice and safe to slice. Slice and dice it all up into 1cm/½ inch-ish cubes. Don't get your ruler out – they don't have to be perfect. Put a casserole-type pot on a high heat, add 3 good lugs of olive oil, then add the celeriac, thyme and garlic, with a little seasoning. Stir around to coat and fry quite fast, giving a little colour, for 5 minutes. Turn the heat down to a simmer, add the water or stock, place a lid on top and cook for around 25 minutes, until tender. Season carefully to taste and stir around with a spoon to smash up the celeriac. Some people like to keep it in cubes, some like to mash it, but I think it looks and tastes much better if you smash it, which is somewhere in the middle. You can serve this with just about any meat you can think of.