Patricia's Celeriac Gratin

Patricia is one of my co-Directors at Earthy, and she's a great cook - especially talented with veg - as an organic vegetable grower, I suppose she should be! We had a Christmas Preview evening at Earthy and she brought along a trio of veggie dishes (2 of which I've included here) to accompany a massive organic turkey from Whitmuir Organics. Appreciative customers and hungry Earthlings all got stuck in to this fantastic fayre. First up is Patricia's celeriac gratin, which was magic. It's probably the ugliest vegetable on the planet, but what it lacks in looks, it makes up for in taste.

Shopping list for 6-8 people:
2 medium celeriac; 50g butter; 500ml (1 pint) of Bechemal sauce (I've added a recipe for this below, just in case); a few tablespoons of fresh breadcrumbs.

Method:
Peel the celeriac and slice to around 1/2” thick. Boil for 2-3 minutes in water and drain. Melt the butter in a large frying pan and fry the celeriac for a couple of minutes. Place the celeriac in layers in a baking dish and pour over the bechamel sauce. Finally top with the fresh breadcrumbs and pop into a warm oven for 30-40 minutes until golden and crisp on top.

Bechamel Sauce - Pour 500ml of milk into a saucepan and add one, peeled and halved small onion, one bay leaf and a little grated nutmeg, some salt and white pepper. Warm the milk thoroughly on a low heat (but don’t boil it). Set aside and leave to stand for 5 minutes to allow the flavours to infuse. Melt 50g butter in another saucepan, take off the heat and add 2 tablespoons of white flour and stir well together. Take the bay leaf and onion out of the warmed milk and discard, then pour the infused milk into the butter/flour mixture. Place back on the heat and gently bring to the boil, stirring or whisking lightly as it heats. The sauce should thicken well. If it’s too runny pour a little out into a mixing bowl, leave to cool a little and add some more flour to form a smooth paste, then add this to back into the bechemal sauce and whisk well. When the sauce is smooth and thick, but still pourable, remove from the heat.