Celery root

It may be ugly and tough however, when you prepare it you'll wonder why you've not had it to dinner before. Peeled, chunked, and processed with a shredding blade in the food robot, it is the basis for the classic Celery Remoulade (Celeri Remoulade [with the proper accents]) You can swing the tone around because the sauce is mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, and lemon juice. I added a bit more mustard and used 1/2 lemon for 14 ounces of root. I served it with broiled veal chops so it offset the fat and richness of the meat just perfectly. I know you can cook the root, probably by boiling or steaming, then whip it into a wonderful creaminess like a potato. I'll try that Saturday.

Winter squash: the Butternut

Wait. There's more. Just continuing on and thinking of the Butternut squash: how about soup? So using the same 3/4" cubes, cooked on high for 7 minutes in combo of chicken stock and duck stock (3 cups and 2 cups) made them soft to the fork and soft for the blender. I poured off all the liquid to a bowl. I used a wand blender to make a heavy, heavy soup. I then started adding the cooking liquid back and kept blending. When all was back in it was a great consistency.

I think that adding water would have been sufficient. The stocks give it a different mouth feel: richer. I know a robust vegetable stock would have been perfect too. Say cooking water from carrots, kale and broccoli....
This would allow a pure vegetable soup.

I didn't know what to expect so I added judiciously. Some salt and ground pepper to taste. A dash or two of Worcester Sauce, and a teaspoon of yellow curry powder. Stirred up and served garnished with scallions. Butternut soup is a great tribute to fall vegetables on cooler nights.

Winter squash: the Butternut

I don't mind breaking down the whole squash. Many do mind. I think most often the squash gets halved, salted, buttered, and baked. You can scoop it out or cut serving size pieces. It warms the house, the cook, and after a while, the eater. It's very good.

You can buy the peeled, seeded, and chopped squash in our markets, but I really don't mind the cutting.

Most vegetable peelers make simple work of removing the hard, waxy outer skin, through the delicate green layer to the yellow flesh. Since I was already trolling around The Way to Cook, J Child, I went to the squash page. BOIL it?! I thought what a travesty. Not falling prey to my calcifying thinking I broke the squash down to 3/4" cubes, put them all in a large iron skillet, added water, and heated at medium with a cover. I was asked for 8 - 10 minutes but couldn't do it that long, so pulled them out into a serving dish around 6 or 7 minutes. They were perfectly done. Then I reduced the remaining liquid to a thick sauce and poured that back over. If I recall I only added salt to the initial preparation. Really sweet and tender and recommended. Who knew. If you really want to add something, butter, of course, would make a splash.

It comes to mind that I could have whipped the batch but I would guess it would be a little watery for my personal taste. However, I could see adjusting the water down and boiling and whipping to produce a wonderful iteration of the butternut squash. And come to think of it pairing with Nervous Nellies Hot Tomato Chutny would be a fine taste combination.

Shaggy mane

Lovely blooms of shaggy mane (Coprinus comatus) mushrooms awaited as I came home Wednesday night. Right combo of rain (plenty) and humidity. Look for them in sandy-soils, grassy, and lit but not sunny. Also called inky caps they turn inky black starting from the bottom skirt and all but disappear in a wink of inky-ness. Kind of like squid ink; somewhat ephemeral. The pure white caps are great cleaned, chopped and sauteed in olive oil or butter. These are not mushrooms with a remarkable flavor. It is very subtle. I made a single egg omlett and put the 1/4 cup of mushrooms in before folding. Salt and pepper make a difference. Delicate woodland flavor. I would guess a milk or cream of mushroom soup base would let out some more flavor.