Celeriac Caesar Salad

I love the earthy, nutty taste of celeriac and have found that this flavour matures and improves when it is slow roasted as in my celeriac caesar salad recipe. This makes for a very filling lunch, but it can also be adapted to make a tasty side dish and works very well with Patty Pizzas or Pepper Quiches.

The celeriac needs to be cut into good thick square 'chips' before roasting. They shrink down during

the slow roast, so they need to be slightly thicker than they appear here before roasting to ensure they don't dry out and catch in the oven. They need to cool down completely after roasting before adding to the salad, to avoid wilting the other vegetables - you can do these the night before and leave them in a cool place or lay them on a cooling rack and leave for an hour or so. The dressing also benefits from standing to marinate as well - again if this could be left for an hour or two, the taste will develop.

This recipe does use one of your HEB allowances for the day, in the form of a slice from an 800g wholemeal loaf, toasted. It also includes 2.5 syns for the inclusion of some real mayonnaise. I've tried this with lighter versions and it just doesn't work, so although it does mean spending some syns, it really is worth it to make this delightfully zingy and tasty dressing.

As with all recipes and meal plans on the blog I have highlighted the protein sources (P foods) in red, the speed (S) foods in green, healthy extra allowances in blue and syns, with syn values in brackets in orange. 

Celeriac Caesar Salad

Serves 1 - 2.5 syns (and one of your HEB allowances)

Half a head of romaine lettuce

2 spring onions

1 small head of celeriac (or half a big one) 

20 capers 

Zest of half a lemon

Juice of a lemon

2 cloves of garlic crushed

1 slice from an 800g loaf of wholemeal bread

Seasalt

Black pepper

1 heaped teaspoon of full-fat mayonnaise - 2.5 syns

3 tablespoons of quark

Heat an oven to 160 fan / 180 electric / gas mark 4.

Peel the celeriac and chop into square chips - about half a cm thick on each side. Avoid any really thin parts of any pieces as this will dry out, catch and burn in the oven. 

Spray an oven tray and lay out the celeriac and then spray with the oil before putting in to roast for 25 minutes. Check at this point - you are looking for some browning on the edges but still some softness in the middle. 

Whilst the celeriac is cooking, finely chop the capers to a pulp and grate the zest from a half of a lemon. 

Add these to a mixing bowl and then stir in the mayonnaise, garlic, quark, a grind of seasalt, a grind of black pepper and 1 tbsp of the lemon juice. 

Blend thoroughly and check the consistency - you are looking for a smooth, thick, but pouring consistency. Add further lemon juice until this is achieved.  Leave this in the fridge to stand whilst you prepare the rest. 

Take out the celeriac once it is done and put it aside to cool down. 

Put the slice of bread on to toast and once cooked set this aside to fully cool too. 

Once all elements are cooled, take the romaine lettuce and, reserving 3 of the largest leaves to use as a base, chop the remaining leaves width-ways to produce thick strips of leaves. Place these in the serving bowl. 

Snip the spring onions over the leaves and then lay the celeriac over the top.

Slice the toast into small squares and then add this to the bowl too. 

Finally, gradually spoon the dressing over the dish evenly and top with fresh parsley.