RECIPE: Mashed ROASTED Celeriac with Roasted Garlic and Thyme

As good as mashed celeriac is, mashed ROASTED celeriac is even better!  

When our farm harvests garlic for the season, I roast as much as I can to tide me over the winter until the next harvest.  It adds umami to this recipe.

Sorry, I don't have a better photo - I served these in a cast iron pot so they would stay warm longer and the photo is very dark!  Because the celeriac is roasted before pureeing, it will be darker than the regular Mashed Celeriac but not quite as dark as the photo!

I made these for Friendsgiving this year and got some better photos of the beginning of the process, but I was scrambling at the end and didn't get photos of the braising steps.  You can see them in the original recipe.

Original recipe: Mashed Celeriac with Garlic and Thyme

Mashed Roasted Celeriac with Roasted Garlic and Thyme

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

• 4 large celeriac (or 15 small ones - about 4 pounds)
  
• 1/4 cup ghee, melted
• 2 c. milk, broth or water
  
• 4-8 roasted garlic gloves depending on how much you like garlic
  
• 1 t. dried thyme leaves
• 2 t. himalayan pink salt
  

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Clean the celeriac, tossing them into a bowl of cold water to keep them from turning brown.

Cut them into 1/2 - 3/4" pieces.  Toss them with the melted ghee and arrange in a single layer on a cookie sheet. (I used two sheet pans)

Roast until the edges are browned.

Transfer to a sauce pan and add the liquid.  Bring to a simmer, cover the pot and simmer until the celeriac is very soft, 30 minutes to 1 hour.  Stir occasionally to insure that every piece is occasionally submerged.  The photo below is before I added the milk and garlic.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the softened celeriac to the bowl of a food processor.  Add the garlic and process, adding the liquid from the pan, a small amount at a time, until it's smooth and creamy like mashed potatoes.  You may not need all the liquid in the pan, or you may need to add additional liquid (either broth, water, or milk), depending on your texture preference.  Add the thyme and season with salt.  Pulse to combine. 

Serve immediately drizzled with butter.

If there are leftovers, they can be reheated in a 350F oven.  You can also reheat them on the cooktop if you add some liquid to the pan first and then heat them on med-low. 

PHOTOS:

 Clean the celeriac, tossing them into a bowl of cold water to keep them from turning brown.

 

 

Cut them into 1/2 - 3/4" pieces.  Toss them with the melted ghee and arrange in a single layer on a cookie sheet. (I used two sheet pans)

Roast until the edges are browned.  The photo below is both sheet pans combined.

 

Transfer to a sauce pan and add the liquid.  Bring to a simmer, cover the pot and simmer until the celeriac is very soft, 30 minutes to 1 hour.  Stir occasionally to insure that every piece is occasionally submerged.  The photo below is before I added the milk and garlic.

 

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the softened celeriac to the bowl of a food processor.  Add the garlic and process, adding the liquid from the pan, a small amount at a time, until it's smooth and creamy like mashed potatoes.  You may not need all the liquid in the pan, or you may need to add additional liquid (either broth, water, or milk), depending on your texture preference.  Add the thyme and season with salt.  Pulse to combine. 

 

Serve immediately drizzled with butter.

If there are leftovers, they can be reheated in a 350F oven.  You can also reheat them on the cooktop if you add some liquid to the pan first and then heat them on med-low.