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There’s a New Cheese Lady in Town!

There’s a New Cheese Lady in Town!

One of the great surprises of pitching a tent in West Michigan was finding a cheese store, nay a Cheese Lady, which far surpasses all found in the multiple world capitals in which I have lived. I know that seems hard to believe, but I’m here to tell you it’s flat out fact. Even Paris, with its iconic Androuët, home to one of my greatest meals ever, pales in comparison to The Cheese Lady. If it were the Cheese Olympics and I was the Russian judge – ok, not her, she’s a bit mean – the American Judge, I would give Androuët a stingy 5.8. The Cheese Lady, a solid 10. Any quality cheese monger will have an extensive variety – The Cheese Lady carries some 150 cheeses from around the globe, with about 20% quality domestic cheeses. And sure, sure, sure, all respectable joints will include raw milk cheeses – something that was off limits in the US until relatively recently. TCL has raw in every category, including goat which is a bit rare. The big difference however is the Midwestern hospitality. Just imagine, if you will, a French monger shouting his most disdaining Mais No!!!  But just in case variety, raw milk, and hospitality aren’t enough, Kathleen Fagan Riegler, the original Cheese Lady, wears a beret. Mais oui!!! I can feel my gruyere melting already.

Beret-Wearing Cheese Lady in front of the chalkboard with all the listingsKathleen spent nearly two decades on the road peddling le fromage for a big Chicago-based importer. Tired of the road, she set herself up at the Muskegon Farmer’s Market and sold out each day. Kathleen loves the market: the energy, the diversity, the passion of both growers and customers, and I think even quite possibly annoying people like me who ask way too many questions. She loves us all. She also has a real gift for connecting with her customers and sharing her knowledge and enthusiasm. Because of the farmer’s market, she developed a mentality and sensibility that focuses on sharing. Very few shops taste cheeses with their customers. Fewer still cut to order. This gift of sharing and generosity trickles down throughout the entire staff. They all totally embrace the living nature of cheese and the fact it varies from day to day, quick to point out whether this wheel needs immediate consumption or can wait a week. Customer service as it was intended!

Sampling Cheese - hand cutting half wheel with a cheese plane and offering a tasteTalk about right place at the right time! Kathleen was there to ride the wave of consumer interest in increasingly more intense flavors and America’s (even West Michigan’s) growing fascination with all things cheese. What you can’t help but notice is the SISTERHOOD at The Cheese Lady that Kathleen has created. You business types might call this a franchise, but I assure you, it is so much more. This is a family of Cheese Ladies and the newest addition (sisters are scattered across Michigan from Traverse City to Kalamazoo) has been there since the beginning, right at the flagship store. Shelley Essebaggers Lewis. She approached Kathleen in the earliest of farmer’s market days when the first tiny store was coming into focus, and Kathleen assured Shelley she would never be that busy. Six stores later, Kathleen is THAT busy. The time has come and Shelley is now the newest (official) Cheese Lady. Kathleen’s goal is to be an increased resource to “The Sisters” and continue to source new products and learn and share. This move allows more time to visit and coach all the sisters. And Shelley is both ready and excited to officially take over the flagship that she has managed for years. Run right over and pick up some of the yummy cheese that I recently sampled and give her a big high five. The future of The Cheese Lady Muskegon is bright and tasty.

Kathleen Riegler and Shelley LewisI spent the morning with them during a blizzard a few weeks ago. Winter cheeses, great for recipes and cooking, were on the menu. We cracked a couple huge wheels and I was surprised (probably shouldn’t have been) that the flavors were so nuanced and nutty. I sometimes clump cooking cheese into a category less flavorful. Never again. Not on my watch. These cheeses would be great in French Onion Soup, Fondue, Gratins, Omelets and Mac & Cheese (recipe coming very soon – thinking about making it Saturday, with a nod to pimento cheese jazzed up with peppadews).

Big Wheels The cheese lady cutting large wheels of cheeseFirst up was a Cave-Aged Gruyere from Switzerland – a raw cow’s milk cheese. The aging creates crystals giving the cheese a light crunchy texture and deep nutty taste. The wheels are a whopping 80 pounds. Super delicious and a fantastic candidate for best grilled cheese ever!

Fontina Fontal is a staple in North Italian pantries. It’s a perfect melting cheese. The Lady likes to use it in mac & cheese to make the cheese sauce creamier. I suspect it will be going in mine! Cheddars have a tendency to separate when heated, so a cheese like this will keep the sauce from breaking.

Next up was Emmental, the classic “Swiss” cheese, which bares zero resemblance to the sliced stuff you get hanging on a rack at the supermarket. Emmentaler has a protected origin designation so that the integrity of true Swiss Emmentaler can be maintained by its stringent standards. The wheels often weigh upwards of 150 pounds. Emmentaler is a brined cheese, so there is a slightly salty taste. Pure perfection.

Specialty Cheeses - some of my faves; wheel of cypress Grove Midnight Moon, Fontina and label from Pleasant Ridge ReserveAnd then we finished off with some Pleasant Ridge Reserve. Yum. One of Wisconsin’s most awarded cheeses, Pleasant Ridge is a raw milk cheese, made from the milk of a single herd, fed and managed using natural “Old World,” hand-crafted practices. As the cheese ages, its flavor becomes more complex and concentrated and is both musty and mushroomy. Often eaten as a table cheese, it is also an excellent recipe cheese.

#BestMorningEver

I\'ll take that to go! Stacks of freshly cut wedges of cheese

While not on that day’s menu, I did have to squeak in a taste of truffled Gouda.  Melkbus is a raw milk Gouda made on small dairy farms around the Netherlands. Each style is numbered – this was #149, a buttery unpasteurized Gouda with Italian black truffles added to the curd before pressing.

O. M. G.

Melkbus #149 - Truffled Gouda - 1/4 wheel and a large web

I am 100% sure that The Cheese Lady has upped my food cred among colleagues, friends and family alike. There are certain people that likely only invite me for Christmas because I come with a clown-car-sized suitcase filled with The Cheese Lady treasures. I can’t tell you how many guests (it’s a lot) visiting each summer bring coolers to stock up. Some even throw tantrums if we miss the opening hours. I’m pretty sure we should start some kind of petition to get Cheese Ladies Everywhere. I know I could use one on my NYC corner. Right now. My then-12-year-old cousin said she was pretty sure there should be one or two in every state, right before proclaiming The Cheese Lady as “my idol”.

Cheese in the Spotlight: Two rather disturbing stories have surfaced in the media this week. One I reject wholesale – a GQ piece saying that cheese can be addictive. They say it like that is a bad thing? I know for a fact that cheese is good for you – hence the expression cheesy goodness, although there is a high probability that I invented that expression myself. Still. Just sayin. Isn’t cheesy euphoria what we live for? The only part of that post that I do embrace? A retouched photo of Scarface with 20 kilos of uncut Colby.

20 Kilos of Uncut Colby - riff off Scarface with Al Pacino looking at highly addictive cheese of many flavorsAnd then there is the distressing news about wood pulp in our cheese. Well, not in my cheese. Unfortunately NBC Nightly News filled the story with B-roll of beautiful cases of hunks of cheese. They went so far as to create an infographic showing what the acceptable 4% level looks like on a wheel. That’s not where the cellulose (anti-caking agent) is found – it’s in the little green shakers of “parmesan”.  (They also report that some of those shakers have zero parmesan – all cheaper cheeses AND wood pulp). So another reminder to read your labels. And while you are checking out ingredients, check out expiration date. I can pretty much guarantee you that the cryovac Manchego or feta at the supermarket will have expiration dates from 6 months to a year out. Remember that bit about cheese being alive? Not so much when sealed in plastic. Just go already to The Cheese Lady where your lovely, breathing, creamy, runny, tasty, smelly, gooey piece of dairy heaven is cut to order and wrapped in French cheese paper. Have I made myself clear?

Kathleen Riegler and Shelley LewisCourtesy of The Cheese Lady…some 30 second appetizers:

  • Manchego, Pear Preserves & Marcona Almonds
  • Eurocreme Stuffed Peppadews
  • Dried Figs Stuffed with Gorgonzola & Honey Drizzle
  • Taleggio & Tart Cherry Preserves
  • Mascarpone & Lemon Curd on Oatcakes
  • Fresh Chevre, Quince Chutney & Toasted Coconut

Toasted Baguette Toppers

  • Iberico & Olive Tapenade
  • Feta, Prosciutto, Honey & Fig
  • Raclette & Cornichons
  • Burrata & Artichokes
  • Valdeon Bleu & Creamed Honey
  • Irish Cheddar & Pear Jam

My Mac & Cheese recipe is coming soon! Stay tuned!! It’s National Drink Wine Day so I think you know what you gotta do! Giddy up.

If this is wrong, I don\'t wanna be right, Cheese board with goat cheese with cran chutney, brie, pears and other cheese with crackers and cheese wafers© Copyright: KatyKeck.com 2016. All rights reserved.

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Roasted Barbie Doll Heads

Roasted Barbie Doll Heads

Okay, there is a reason search engines hate me. I just don’t play by their rules. But I am sorry – who wants to see a headline about Brussels sprouts? Bo. Ring. Although this dish is anything but. It’s actually my brother who calls them Barbie Doll heads – what would I know? My idea of repurposing Barbie is to ram a rod up her and put a shade with some nice piano fringe on top. #AmIRite? That “Solo in the Spotlight” outfit was made to be a lamp. Well that and the fact I never really forgave her for the mic drop she pulled on the way to kindergarten. That microphone was integral to the outfit.

Brussels Sprouts in hand; Barbie Doll Head in hand; barbie doll lampIt’s a perfect time of year to find fresh Brussels sprouts – on or off the stalk. I found these at one of our winter indoor markets, grown by Blackbird Farms. A dish like this is so simple and undemanding that it fits holiday entertaining quite well.

Brussels Sprouts on the Stalk, in a wreath and being juggled
Brussels sprouts date back to the late 16th century – thought to be native to Belgium, hence the capital name. They are high in Vitamins C and K, high in fiber, and like other cruciferous vegetables, associated with cancer prevention. But the important part is they are tasty. I like to roast them to get a nutty slightly charred taste, but you can also steam, sauté, and even remove the leaves and blanch them. Patrick O’Connell from the legendary Inn at Little Washington has a recipe in one of his books for Brussels Sprout Petals with Coriander Vinaigrette and Pickled Cranberries. It is quite delish and lucky for you, he featured it during an NPR interview so no need to buy the book (well there are plenty of reasons to buy the book, but just not for that recipe). Patrick serves it cold, but it would be a fantastic side vegetable, served warm, on your holiday buffet.

Sprouts, Shallots and Prosciutto on a wooden boardRoasted Brussels Sprouts with Shallots and Prosciutto

  • 1 ½ pounds Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
  • 2 Tablespoons EVOO, divided per below
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 shallots, minced
  • 1/4 pound prosciutto, diced
  • Drizzle of Fig Balsamic Vinegar

Preheat oven to 400oF.

Toss the sprouts with 1 ½ Tablespoons of EVOO, salt and pepper. Arrange on a sheet pan and roast, shaking periodically, until tender and slightly charred, about 20-30 minutes, depending on size and freshness.

Shallots - being chopped and being sauteedHeat the remaining ½ Tablespoon of EVOO and sauté shallots until browned. Add the prosciutto and continue sautéing until it becomes a bit crispy.

Prosciutto and Sprouts being sauteed and with brussels sprouts being addedAdd the roasted sprouts to the pan and stir to toss well. Drizzle with fig Balsamic vinegar, to taste. Adjust seasonings, as needed.

Serves 6 – wonderful with a roast pork loin and goat cheese and thyme mashed potatoes.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Shallots and Prosciutto

© Copyright: KatyKeck.com 2015. All rights reserved.

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Potato Ricer: A Thanksgiving Must-Have

Potato Ricer: A Thanksgiving Must-Have

I’m not quite sure how I ever made it through to dessert all those years that I mashed potatoes with a – uh, masher. Oh sure, there was always a brother who made a mean mash with just the right amount of chunks left it. But in my family, the men (technically, THE MAN) were supposed to do the carving. That or keep the mimosas cold. The real magic, I think, behind having a potato ricer is that kids of all ages want to get involved. It’s like a giant garlic press and the potatoes come out all wormy and stuff. What’s not to love? And kids actually volunteering for food prep is win-win. Thank you, Ali Price!

I can’t tell you the exact date that I started my ricer love affair, but I remember the moment like it was yesterday. It was in the early years of New World Grill and I had a rare evening off and chose to dine at the James Beard house. I couldn’t tell you who was in the kitchen, but I remember clearly being seated with Nicole Routhier, author of beautiful books on Vietnamese food, and Florence Fabricant of the NY Times. There was breaking news and Florence arrived a bit late. As she settled in, Florence talked about an upcoming dinner that she and Frank Prial, NY Times’ wine writer, were hosting to benefit the NY Public Library. For a good number of years, the Times offered these magical dinners – which today would be auctioned online and raise a ton of money in minutes – for a flat ticket price, all proceeds to support NYPL. Florence and Frank always offered FOOD & WINE, Times style. There were other dinners, hosted by famous people, all over town at the exact same time. I was most intrigued by Calvin Trillin’s. He invited the guests into his home and served take-out – or to be more precise, the best Chinese take-out NY had to offer. He had stationed minions all over Chinatown, striking with military precision to bring each dish, the most iconic offering from each restaurant, one by one, on a carefully calculated timetable (“…..like the Entebbe raid”………according to the Times) to be served at the precise moment of each dish’s peak.

Thyme and Goat Cheese with milk, potatoes and butter; peeling potatoes

I asked who was cooking for Florence and Frank’s party and she said she was – of course. I offered to do the event-time cooking to finish off her prep, so she could be with the guests. To say she was skeptical would be an understatement.   She did know who I was and had already written about New World Grill, but I was a newbie. Nicole insisted she take me up on the offer.   I left knowing the date and time but little else. I doubt I even thought to panic until the week before. Then, total anxiety set in. Especially when I found out she was making Terence Brennan’s short ribs and mashed potatoes for the main, or more accurately she was making Terence Brennan’s short ribs and I was making mashed potatoes. Sure sure sure – it seems simple, but the simplest food is always an acid test of one’s cooking ability. Did you see The 100-Foot Journey? Helen Mirren had her acid test dish to confirm Chef’s talent – and it was seemingly simple. Same deal for Florence’s potatoes – under-season the water, turn the mash to glue, too wet, too dry, too bland – the stakes were incredibly high. To make matters worse – or as it turns out better – she had forgotten her ricer, “whatever that was”, I thought. She called her husband to bring it over and then handed it off to me. Luckily it didn’t come with –nor need – an owner’s manual.  I had this.   Salted water to cook, white pepper and a lot of butter to finish. Thankfully my performance was worthy of an invitation to greet the guests and a hug from Florence, neither of which were expected. Johnny Carson himself might as well have invited me to the couch. Thank you, ricer.

Incidentally, Florence also introduced me that night to Indiana’s goat cheese producer – Judy Schad of Capriole Farms. After the short rib course, there was a salad with fuyu persimmon and Wabash Cannonball cheese from Capriole Farms. Seriously – I need to get out more.

Ricing Potatoes using a potato ricer into a blue bowl

Perfect Mashed Potatoes

Mashed potatoes are an excellent blank slate for seasoning as you like. A few posts ago, I used the pistachio pesto recipe to flavor the riced potatoes. Today I am adding fresh goat cheese and thyme.   But while using a ricer is simple and flawless, potatoes cooked like this are best mashed to order, so dedicating the burner and the last minute attention may be more than you can swing at a stove-intensive holiday like Thanksgiving.

Fear not – there is a great make-ahead mashed potato recipe in Rick Rodger’s Big Book of Sides (I get credit for the recipe, but truth is I stole it from my sister-in-law.) Rick’s books (including The Turkey Cookbook: 138 New Ways to Cook America’s Favorite Bird and Thanksgiving 101) are right up there with ricers in the Thanksgiving must-haves.
Pot of Mashed potatoes with butter,goat cheese and fresh thyme

Ingredients:

  • 4 Russet potatoes, about 3 pounds, peeled, quartered, and covered in water
  • ½ cup milk, half and half or cream, warmed (microwave is fine)
  • 4 ounces fresh goat cheese, cut in chunks
  • 3 Tablespoons butter, cut in chunks
  • 3 Tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
  • sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Put the potatoes in a large pot, season with 2 Tablespoons salt and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes release easily when pricked with a fork, about 15-20 minutes. Drain well.

Press the potatoes through a Potato Ricer into a bowl.

Add about half the milk, as well as the goat cheese and butter. Stir until mixed, adding more milk, as needed to desired texture.

Add the fresh thyme and season with salt and pepper.

Garnish with pats of butter and sprigs of thyme.

Serves 4-6 – depending on how serious (About Mashed Potatoes!!) you are.

Goat Cheese and Thyme Mashed Potatoes with Roast Pork and Brussel Sprouts

© Copyright: KatyKeck.com 2015. All rights reserved.

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Grown-Up (Boozy) Pumpkin Cheesecake

Grown-Up (Boozy) Pumpkin Cheesecake

So before the pumpkin cheesecake,  I have a little story – we’ve had a teency tech glitch (I was no where near that) that apparently has kept about half of you from receiving these posts for the last month or so. No wonder you’re freaking. (Wink. Smile.)   However, I have a not-so-secret vault where you can find all the fabulous fabrications you’ve missed – it’s safe and sound, right where I left them on my website – katykeck.com/blog. Whew!  And thank you for sticking with me, even though I appear to be the laziest blogger EVER, seemingly not posting for weeks.  And now back to the pumpkin patch…………

A recent trip “up north”, as the Michiganders call it, involved some massive pumpkin finds. A couple were the size of Volvos and claimed to weigh more than 1400 pounds. Is there a scale for that? My sister said they looked like Jabba the Hutt – I think she’s right.  That extreme brush with fall produce reminded me of this Pumpkin Ginger Cheesecake that I hadn’t made in years. It’s a carefully (not really) guarded secret recipe from the early days of New World Grill. When we first opened, with a kitchen only slightly larger than the one I had shared in Paris, there were way too many kinks to work out in the work flow to do desserts. So they were primarily outsourced. In house, we had a signature grilled fruit (genius – so far ahead of its time that the Zagat guide said “some things shouldn’t be grilled”. Duh. Really?), but the rest came from elsewhere. There was no reason on earth not to buy Ciao Bella gelato – they had every flavor imaginable and they custom produced whatever you needed. The chocolate ganache cake, while not the stuff of legends, was very good and had the shiniest sheen on top. A weency bit too shiny??  Perhaps.  Because Eric Asamov, CSI-slash-Restaurant Critic at the NY Times, received a slice with a thumb print on it. Total oops, but did he have to include that in his otherwise glowing review?  I did what I had to – made a million copies of the review (the NY Times, people!!!!) and got busy with an ink pad, covering every press kit with inky thumbprints.

Fall in Northern Michigan - pumpkin varieties

Our first fall at New World, the good folks at Jack Daniels offered the James Beard Foundation a $10,000 gift if 200 chefs featured their product on our menus throughout November. I created this recipe using Gentleman Jack Rare Tennessee Whiskey, a twice-filtered premium bottling. The Gentleman Jack Pumpkin Cheesecake was such a hit and so clearly made in-house that we were no longer able to get away with any commercially produced desserts (other than Ciao Bella). I got to add pastry chef to my ever-growing job description.   While I feel a special loyalty to the Gentleman, you can also try Jack Daniels or play around with bourbons (pecans in the crust) or dark rum (ginger in the filling), if the mood strikes. Dark rum would be a nice Island Twist with the ginger.

Now that I was officially a pastry chef (in between being a hostess, plumber, and expediter), I learned an awful lot about making cheesecake. We were a boutique (read: frickin small) venue, but I still cranked out 500 or more cheesecakes a year. I developed about a dozen different flavors which for me was the easy part. The part that took me a while to master was the equipment and techniques. Cracks and sinkholes were Public Enemy Number One. If you want to be serious about this you need a heavy duty, coated springform pan. Flimsy ones leak. Springs break. And aluminum might react with your filling flavor. Any good cooking supply store will carry them – and they are closer to $20 than $6, but they should last a very long time, especially if you don’t make 500 cheesecakes a year. Analon, Calphalon, and Kaiser make sturdy pans. The highest priority of a springform is being leak-proof.

Crust in a spring form pan with a spoon, Jack Daniels and eggs; and cheesecake batter going in the oven in a bain marie

Cheesecakes are best baked in a water bath, or bain marie. French for Mary’s Bath, the bain marie’s original namesake is likely an ancient alchemist named Mary, though some sources credit the Virgin Mary who was also extremely well-known for her cheesecakes. (Never.) Cheesecakes, like alchemy, benefit from gradual temperature changes. Try to rush this recipe and you will definitely get cracks.  While the prep time is minimal, it takes about 5 hours of planning and tempering the ingredients and cake. Your best results will come with room-temperature cream cheese and then slowly heating the cake in the oven in a water bath, followed by slow cooling – first in the bath in the turned off oven, then out of the bath on the counter. Because I was doing this professionally, I rued cracks in the cake, but fear not – I have topped this with a sour cream layer which will cover all cracks.  You’re welcome.

Another culprit of cheesecake deformity – which in case you have forgotten DOES NOT AFFECT HOW DELICIOUS THIS IS – is sinking. The evildoer behind the dreaded sink is air – first a pretty little puff, then a giant cave in. My tip for avoiding sinking middles is to incorporate as little air as possible – hence the use of a food processor, not a standmixer. And you will note that I only pulse in the eggs at the very end with just a few pulses. (Eggs are another culprit that might fluff up the cake – don’t let them.)  And lastly, there is the pan tapping at the end – getting rid of any excess air.

The recipe below is sure to boost your hostess cred and – bonus – you now have a template for cheesecake production. I will share more flavors in the months to come.  But for now…….

Gobble Gobble.

Gentleman Jack Pumpkin Cheesecake

Gentleman Jack Pumpkin Ginger Cheesecake

Crust:

  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  •  1/2 cup dark brown sugar
  •  1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
  •  1/4 cup melted butter

Filling:

  • 15 ounce can pumpkin puree
  • 24 oz cream cheese, room temperature
  •  5 ounces Gentleman Jack Rare Tennessee Whiskey
  •  1 cup sugar
  •  1 1/2 Tablespoons vanilla extract
  •  1 Tablespoon ground ginger
  •  1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  •  1 teaspoon ground clove
  •  1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  •  6 eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten

Topping:

  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 2 Tablespoons Gentleman Jack Rare Tennessee Whiskey
  • 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
  1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Combine flour, brown sugar, pecans, and melted butter and mix until crumbs adhere. Press into a 9 or 10″ sturdy nonstick springform pan and bake for 10 – 12 minutes. Remove and cool. Wrap pan in heavy duty foil. Reduce oven temperature to 300°F.
  2. In food processor, puree pumpkin until smooth. Add cream cheese and puree until smooth. Add Gentleman Jack, sugar, vanilla, ginger, cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg and pulse until mixed. Add eggs and pulse 2 – 3 times only until just combined. Do not overprocess.
  3. Pour filling into cooled crust and tap pan lightly. Place in a roasting pan and fill with hot water, halfway up the side of the springform. Bake for 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 hours or until set. It may still be a bit wobbly in the center but it will firm up as it cools.
  4. Turn oven off and leave cheesecake in water bath in oven for 30 minutes more. Remove roasting pan from oven, and carefully remove springform from water.  Remove foil and cool on wire rack until room temperature. Refrigerate until fully chilled.
  5. Combine sour cream, Gentleman Jack, and powdered sugar and spread on top of cheesecake. Refrigerate until set.
  6. Gently run a knife or thin metal spatula around inside edge of pan. When cheesecake has released, open outer pan ring and remove.

Serves 12.

Pumpkin ginger cheesecake© Copyright: KatyKeck.com 2015. All rights reserved.

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Celery Root: Fall’s Best Kept Secret

Celery Root: Fall’s Best Kept Secret

This homely little vegetable belies its knobby, unsightly exterior, showing up instead packing a flavor punch and chocked full of crunch. It became one of my favorites during my year in France. While interning in Michelin starred restaurants, I had this crazy schedule, leaving at 7am for work about an hour away, and returning home well after midnight on the last metro of the day. There were a few others in this tiny studio apartment, but I got the “walk in” (if you could call it that) closet which I used as my salon – having a glass of wine, checking my mail and unwinding from the day. I was always the last one in and first one out each day. My personal time in the apartment came on Saturday when everyone else was either at work or away for the weekend. I spent that day off each week combing the specialty food shops in my neighborhood, doing laundry and plotting for dinner. Being on a budget meant a lot of chicken, but it also meant trying new things with cheap root vegetables. Céleri Rémoulade (grated celery root with mayonnaise) and Salade de Carottes Râpées (grated carrots, lightly dressed) became two staples of my weekend dining. The French don’t favor raw vegetables, but they make exception for these two which are damn near national treasures. The Céleri Rémoulade mayonnaise dressing bore faint resemblance to its American cousin. It was rich and creamy and somewhat tangy.

 

Fresh Celery Root

 

I don’t think about those dinners all that often, but this time of year when I see celery root, technically celeriac, with the remaining farmers braving brisk market mornings, I am immediately back there in that tiny kitchenette. It reminds me how hard I worked to make it taste the same each time, something that a professional takes pride in. These days, I like to make it different each time.   Sneak in a new ingredient, change the dressing. The recipe below masquerades grated apple and white cheddar. They both look about the same as grated celery root, but what a delight to find that the intense celery flavor is elevated with sweet/tart apple and rich cheddar lurking within.

 

Crunchy Apples and Celery Root

Here in the US, celery root is not so well known. When the farm stands are gone, invariably I’m forced to buy it at the supermarket. Without fail, I get one of the befuddled cashiers giving me a “Whaaaaaat?” look. I am so smitten with the flavor – think celery and parsley – and versatility that I have been known to sneak celery root into a mystery basket for auditioning chefs. On one particular project, the first three candidates failed to use it (a strict mystery basket no-no) and when the fourth got a last minute chance to audition, he asked if he could use the abundance of celery root he had seen in the walk-in. Guess who still has the job? Unlike the others, he was well aware that celery root can not only be served grated and raw, but also steamed, boiled, and roasted to include in soups, stews, bisques, gratins and mashes, the very way he chose to serve it.

When shopping, look for small, firm celeriac that seem overly heavy for their size. Bulbs with bruises, soft spots or a lot of shoots or rootlets are past their prime. Not only will they have lost their intense flavor, they tend to be a bit pithy inside and that is no good for a raw salad. To prepare for grating, trim the ends to create a flat surface, then use a sharp knife to cut off the woody exterior. Cut in wedges that will fit into your processor, fitted with the large grating disc. The exposed flesh will start to turn brown eventually, so have your dressing ready and dress as you go.

 

close up of celery root slaw with fresh parsely

Celery Root, Apple and Cheddar Slaw

Dressing:

  • ¾ cup combined lemon juice and EVOO, 50-50 ratio
  • 1 Tablespoon white miso, available at health food stores or Asian markets
  • 1 Tablespoon Dijon or spicy/pepper mustard

Put all ingredients into a blender and combine until well blended.

 

Slaw:

  • 1 pound celery root, trimmed and grated
  • 1 pound crisp-tart apples such as Braeburn, peeled and grated
  • ¼ pound sharp white cheddar, such as Barber

Grate each ingredient using the large grating disc on your food processor.

Transfer to a serving bowl and drizzle with dressing, tossing and dressing to desired coating.

Keep refrigerated in an airtight container.

Serves 6-8.

 

This time of year just feels like spicy brats and sausages, and while I reached for a cabbage slaw variant all summer, this celery root, apple, cheddar slaw is the perfect accompaniment for fall outings.

 

Creamy Apple, Cheddar Celery Root Slaw with a brat in the back

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