Celeriac and potato dauphinoise with anchovy, chilli, rosemary and garlic

Celeriac and potato dauphinoise with anchovy, chilli, rosemary and garlic

Winter

Celeriac is my number one root vegetable. It has a flavour somewhere between sweet earth and hazelnuts. It’s comforting and reassuring, and wonderfully versatile. It can be crisp and toothsome when raw, soft and silky when cooked slowly, and everything in between.

Part of the celery family, celeriac grows wild in parts of the Mediterranean basin and northern Europe, though the plants we cook and eat are almost always cultivated. It’s the swollen root that tastes so good, and for me it is one of the most useful winter vegetables there is.

Here thin slices of celeriac are layered with potatoes and baked slowly in double cream with garlic, chilli and rosemary. A small amount of anchovy adds a gentle savoury depth to the dish, but if you prefer you can simply leave it out.

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 750g celeriac
  • 750g white potatoes
  • 4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
  • 1 to 2 fresh red chillies, finely chopped, or 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
  • 4 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
  • 1 to 2 large sprigs of rosemary, leaves finely chopped
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 750ml double cream

Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C.

Peel the celeriac and slice it very thinly, about the thickness of a 2p coin. Do the same with the potatoes and place them both in a large bowl.

Put the cream, garlic, chilli, anchovy if using, and rosemary into a saucepan set over a medium heat. Bring just to a simmer, then pour the hot cream over the sliced celeriac and potatoes. Season generously with salt and pepper and gently tumble everything together so the slices are well coated.

Layer the celeriac and potatoes as evenly as you can in a large ovenproof dish. Pour over any remaining cream from the bowl and press everything down lightly with the back of a spatula so the surface is level.

Bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes, or until the vegetables are completely tender and the top is golden and bubbling.

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