Lentil & Celery Stew - With Rosemary Focaccia and Celeriac Remoulade

Katie Sanderson prepares a delicious dish with star veg Celery featured in Series 3 Episode 7 of Grow Cook Eat.

Information- Recipe 1 Celery:

I love to eat lots of vegetables, salady type things in summer where vegetables are just kept simple. In winter this kind of food brings me much happiness. hearty food that's cheap and quick and big pots can last half a week.

Recipe for rosemary focaccia attached. I smother mine with black garlic or add some confit garlic which I often have in the fridge. It's crunchy salty bread it can't really be anything but very yummy.

 

Stew Ingredients

2 white onions

sprigs of thyme

3 cloves of garlic

2 big carrots peeled and diced

3/4 head of Celery peeled and diced

2 cups of Puy lentil washed.

1.850 ltr of vegetable stock

2 big handfuls of flat leaf parsley roughly chopped.

salt and pepper

 

Method:

  • In a pot, add a few generous glugs of olive oil, add the onions, thyme and chilli flakes, then the garlic and sweat down.Then add the celery and carrots, cook until softer but still retaining a good bite. Add the lentils and your stock and cook for 25-30 min. The lentils should be cooked, taste and correct the seasoning. 
  • Just before serving add most of your parsley, ladle into bowls then add lots of grated parmesan a few glugs of olive oil some more sea salt and black pepper. And some more chopped parsley.
  • Ps if it needs a little lift me up, I use a little tamari to lift everything and add some extra salty goodness.
  • Ps. if you have some good quality parmesan adding the rinds in while cooking will add flavour.

 

Focaccia Ingredients:

  • sachet of yeast (7g)
  • 600ml warm water
  • 20g salt
  • lots of olive oil
  • 1tb of honey or sugar
  • 900g strong white bread flour
  • crunchy sea salt for the top
  • rosemary

Method:

Preheat oven to 190c

Place the yeast in the warm water with the sweetener and a tablespoon of olive oil leave until bubbly and yeast looks activated.

Add the yeasty water to the flour and then add the salt. Mix well have some more water on hand in case the dough is dry.

Pour the mixture out on the surface and knead until coming together. leave in a warm part of the kitchen covered with long film or a tea towel and let it rise until doubled in size, knock it back and place it in a very well oiled tin. A brownie tin will mean you will have a very fancy square looking bread that will push off the sides and rise. a flat roasting tray can mean crispier edges and works just as well. The bread needs to be swimming in the oil.

Again leave to rise covered until growing in size. maybe about 30 min. make holes in the dough, it should feel very springy shiny and look like it will taste delicious. adding holes brings me much satisfaction,  add rosemary and sprinkle very generously with sea salt.

Roast in a preheated oven.

For 45 ish minutes. should be brown and hollow when tapped from underneath.

Celeriac Remoulade

Vegan Mayo, I've been trying to crack it for awhile, since your replacing the eggs with soya milk that have a high percentage of protein but don’t add the rich taste that eggs offer the oil that your using needs to be flavoured, I've experimented with using fermented chilli oil but my fave results use confit garlic and the oil used to confit the garlic in to add an extra dimension to the whole thing.

Ingredients:

Celeriac cut into matchsticks

2 heads of garlic confit in 500ml of sunflower oil

2 TB Soya milk

1 TB Mustard

1TB Lemon juice

500ml sunflower oil

Method:

  • Mandolin the Celeriac and then cut into matchsticks, cover with water that has a squeeze of lemon in it to prevent it from going brown.
  • Put your confit garlic, soya milk, mustard and vinegar into the bowl of a blender and turn on. In a slow steady stream pour the confit garlic oil into the bowl and then the sunflower oil. You should see the mixture starts to thicken. Once all the oil is incorporated and you're happy with the consistency taste and season. Adding more lemon juice if you feel it needs an acidy kick.
  • Drain your celeriac and add a few tablespoons of your sauce and leave to soften for 20 minutes.