Author Archives: Pumpkin Ridge Gardens

Chicken Tagine with Sweet Potatoes and Celeriac

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  • 3 Lbs. chicken thighs
  • salt and freshly ground pepper
  • ½ Tbs. ground cumin
  • 3 Tbs. butter
  • 1 large onion thinly sliced
  • 2/3 cup raisins
  • pinch of saffron threads, crumbled
  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp freshly grated ginger
  • 1 Lb. sweet potatoes or Kabocha squash peeled and cubed (1/2 inch)
  • 1 celeriac peeled and cubed (1/2 inch)
  • 1 Tbs. honey

Rub chicken pieces with salt, pepper and cumin.  If time allows, let stand for 1 to 2 hours.  Covering the chicken and refrigerating overnight would be best.  When ready to prepare the dish, heat the butter in a large casserole or Dutch oven and cook chicken in batches until golden on all sides.  Add the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Add raisins, saffron, cinnamon and ginger and cook, stirring for 1 minute.  Pour 2 cups water into the casserole.  Cover and cook the chicken for 30 minutes over low heat.  Add the sweet potatoes or squash and the celeriac along with additional salt and pepper.  Simmer the stew, covered 20 minutes.  Carefully stir in the honey, taking care not to mash the vegetables.

Serves 4-6.

Adapted from Fooday.

Chicken Pad Thai

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  • 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken, cut into 1” cubes
  • 5 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. Asian fish sauce
  • ½ lb. firm tofu, cut into 1/4” cubes (optional)
  • 1 c. water
  • 2 Tbsp. lime juice
  • 1 ½ tsp. rice wine vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp. sugar
  • ¾ tsp. salt
  • ¼ tsp. cayenne
  • ¾ lb. linguine or chuka soba (chow mein noodles)
  • 3 Tbsp. cooking oil
  • 4 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 2/3 c. peanuts, chopped fine
  • 4 c. cabbage, thinly sliced
  • 2 scallions, thinly sliced
  • ½ c. lightly packed cilantro leaves

In a small bowl, combine the chicken with ½ tsp. of the fish sauce. In another bowl, combine the tofu (if using) with another ½ tsp. of the fish sauce. In a medium bowl, combine the remaining 5 Tbsp. fish sauce with the water, 1 ½ Tbsp. lime juice, the vinegar, sugar, salt and cayenne. In a pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta until done. Drain. Meanwhile, in a wok or large frying pan, heat 1 Tbsp. of the oil over moderately high heat. Add the chicken and cook, stirring, until just done, 3-4 minutes. Remove. If using the tofu, put another Tbsp. of oil into the pan, add the tofu and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Remove. Put remaining Tbsp. of oil in pan, add garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the pasta and the fish-sauce mixture. Cook, stirring, until nearly all the liquid is absorbed, about 3 minutes. Stir in chicken, tofu (if using), and 1/3 c. peanuts. Remove from heat. Stir in remaining ½ Tbsp. lime juice, cabbage, scallions and half of cilantro. Top with remaining peanuts and cilantro.

Serves 4.

Adapted from Food and Wine Magazine’s Quick From Scratch Chicken Cookbook.

Chardonnay Cabbage

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  • 3 lbs. green cabbage
  • 3 cups California chardonnay
  • 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

Cut cabbage into 3/4 -inch-thick slices.  Soak in cold water mixed with 1 Tbsp. coarse salt for 1 hour. Drain the cabbage and put it in a large heavy saucepan.  Barely cover with wine.  Cover and simmer over low heat for 1 1/2 hours.With a slotted spoon, remove the cabbage to a large bowl.  Mix with melted butter.  Quickly reduce the cooking liquid until syrupy and lightly browned.  Pour over the cabbage.  Add salt and freshly ground pepper.  Makes 8 cups. From Recipes 1-2-3 by Rozanne Gold.

Chard Braise

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  • 2 oz. dried porcini mushrooms
  • 2 ½ cup boiling water
  • 1 lb. chard
  • 1 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 6 medium white mushrooms
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • ½ tsp. kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place porcini in a medium bowl.  Pour boiling water over them and let soak until softened, about 30 minutes.  Separate chard leaves from stems.  Cut leaves crosswise into 1-inch strips and stems into 1-inch lengths.  Drain the porcini in a fine sieve lined with paper towel over a 2-cup measure.  Add water to the soaking liquid if necessary to measure 1 ½ cups total.  Rinse the porcini under cool running water.  Squeeze out any excess water and coarsely chop.  Chop white mushrooms into ¼-inch slices.  Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add white mushrooms and cook, stirring often, until lightly browned, about 4 minutes.  Add garlic, the chard stems and leaves, reserved liquid and chopped porcini; stir to combine.  Cover and cook until chard stems are tender, 8-10 minutes.  Uncover, increase heat to high and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid in reduced by half, 3-5 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.

Serves 4.

From Eating Well Feb./Mar. 2006.

Celery Root and Wild Rice Chowder

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  • 1/2 cup wild rice
  • 1 celery root (about 1 pound)
  • 2 large leeks, white parts only
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 celery rib, diced
  • 1 cup thinly sliced russet potato
  • 1/4 cup chopped parsley, plus extra for garnish
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 large thyme sprig
  • sea salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 2 cups vegetable stock, chicken stock or water
  • 2 cups half-and-half or milk
  • truffle oil, optional

Cover wild rice with 5 cups water in small  saucepan. Bring to a boil, then lower heat. Cover and simmer for about 45 minutes or until tender.  Thickly cut away celery root skins, then quarter and chop the root into bite-sized pieces. You should
have about 3 cups. Chop and wash leeks.  Melt butter in a soup pot. Add vegetables, parsley, bay leaf, thyme, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, then add stock.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes. Add half-and-half and simmer until vegetables are tender. Taste for salt and season with pepper. To
give soup a creamy background, puree a cup of the vegetables and return them to the pot (don’t forget to remove bay leaf!). If soup is too thick, thin with rice water or additional stock.  Divide soup among 4 or 6 bowls and add a mound of wild rice to each. Garnish with parsley and a drop of truffle oil, if using, and serve.

From Local Flavors by Deborah Madison

Celeriac Remoulade with Celeriac Chips

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  • 1 1/2 lbs celeriac
  • 1/2 cup + 2 Tbs light mayonnaise
  • 3 Tbs Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Wash and peel celeriac.  Cut about 2/3 of the celeriac into long thin julienne strips about 2 inches long.  Mix the mayonnaise and mustard in a bowl and add the julienned celeriac.  Add salt and pepper to taste and refrigerate.

Slice the remaining celeriac as thin as possible.  Place the slices on a baking sheet, reduce the heat to 275 degrees and bake, turning once or twice 30 minutes, or until crisp.  The celeriac chips will brown lightly, but don’t let them get too dark.  Sprinkle with salt.  Serve a mound of celeriac remoulade with the chips on top alone or on a bed of thinly sliced prosciutto.

Celeriac Dumplings in Tomato Broth

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  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 leek, thinly sliced
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 900 ml (1½ pints) vegetable stock, preferably home-made
  • 1 tbsp tomato purée
  • 140 g (5 oz) frozen petit pois
  • 2 tomatoes, about 100 g (3½ oz) in total, skinned and roughly chopped
  • salt and pepper
  • sprigs of fresh basil to garnish

Celeriac dumplings:

  • 150 g (5½ oz) celeriac, diced, or 55 g (2 oz) cooked celeriac, mashed
  • 75 g (2½ oz) fine fresh white breadcrumbs
  • 125 g (4½ oz) soft mild goat’s cheese
  • 2 tsp chopped fresh basil
  • 1 egg, beaten

Preheat the grill to the hottest setting, then grill the red pepper for about 10 minutes, turning it often, until the skin is charred all over. Put it in a polythene bag and set aside until cool enough to handle. Peel the pepper, discard the seeds and cut the flesh into 1 cm (1/2 in) squares.

For the dumplings, cook the diced celeriac in boiling water for 10–15 minutes or until very tender. Drain well, then purée in a blender or food processor, or mash until smooth. Set aside to cool.  Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the leek and garlic, and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the red pepper, stock and tomato purée. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 8 minutes. Add the peas halfway through the cooking. Remove from the heat. Stir in the tomatoes and seasoning to taste, then set aside.  Add the breadcrumbs, goat’s cheese, basil and egg to the celeriac, with seasoning to taste. Mix well until all the ingredients are thoroughly combined. Use 2 small spoons (teaspoons are suitable) to shape the mixture into 12 small dumplings, setting them on a plate as they are made.  Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Gently lower half the dumplings, one by one, into the water on a draining spoon. Bring the water back to the boil, then cover, reduce the heat and simmer gently for 4–5 minutes. Use the draining spoon to remove the dumplings from the pan to a double layer of kitchen paper to drain. Repeat with the remaining dumplings.  Return the tomato broth to the heat and bring to the boil. Ladle the soup into bowls, add the dumplings and garnish with basil. Serve immediately.

Celeriac Bread

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  • 3 c. flour
  • 1/4 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 3 eggs
  • 2/3 c. oil
  • 2 c. grated celeriac
  • 1/2 c. minced onion
  • 1 tbsp. parsley
  • 1/4 tsp. dried marjoram
  • 1/8 tsp. pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  In a large bowl, beat eggs.  Add oil, celeriac, onion, parsley, marjoram, and pepper.  Beat until well blended.  Add flour mixture a little at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition.  Butter and flour a loaf pan.  Spoon batter into pan.  Bake approximately 40 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes and remove from pan.  This batter could also be baked in muffin pans or as drop biscuits, which would reduce the baking time.

From the Winter Harvest Cookbook by Lane Morgan.

Braised Celeriac

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A fellow farmer sent us a celeriac tip: celeriac braised in butter.  Braise one celeriac cut into matchsticks in a 12-inch nonstick sauté pan with enough acidulated water (3 Tbsp. lemon juice and 1 tsp. salt to 1 quart of water) to cover, salt, pepper, and 1/2 stick butter, approx. 30 mins., until water evaporates and celery root is tender.  Do not let brown.  If not yet tender, add more butter and continue to stew until tender. You could dress this with tarragon vinegar, lemon juice, or Dijon mustard, or leave it plain

Celeriac and Porcini Soup

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  • 1/2 oz. dried porcini (or similar) mushrooms
  • 1 chopped celeriac (3-4 oz.)
  • 1 chopped onion
  • 2 oz butter
  • 1/4 pt. sour cream
  • 1/4 pt. regular cream or half and half
  • 1 Tbs flour
  • dill weed or parsley
  • salt and pepper

Soak the mushrooms in a ladle of very hot water for 20-30 minutes.  While they are soaking, sweat the celeriac and onion in the butter in a covered pan until they begin to soften.  Add the mushrooms and their liquor.  Simmer, covered, until the vegetables are tender.  Puree in a blender and return the puree to the pan.  Mix the creams and the flour to make a smooth paste and stir into the soup as it reheats.  Cook slowly for about five minutes, until the taste of flour has gone.  If the soup is too thick for your taste, dilute with hot water.  Stir in chopped dill weed, salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with croutons.

From Jane Grigson’s Vegetable Book.