Everyday French
Being in France for part of my most recent travel called to mind memories of previous trips, and, as I mention below, not surprisingly for me, this means memories of the food. With that on my mind, I decided to share my recipe for céleri rémoulade, one of the typical French sides you can find everywhere.
It used to be difficult finding this hairy, knobby root vegetable in the States, but I am seeing it more often, in stores, in CSA boxes, at farmers markets, and it’s a great change of taste from coleslaw at your next cookout or picnic!
WHAT LIES BENEATH
by Elizabeth Baer
I am just back from my first real vacation in quite a while! Sure, we’ve gone places, but mostly to visit family or for events and celebrations, but nothing like this. Back in the depths of winter, my father’s cousin, the last from that group of five, sent an email to me and my sister, saying that he and his wife had booked a small château in a small town in France for a week in May, and would we like to join them (along with other family and friends whom they had invited). I pondered how quickly I could say, “Yes!” without sounding too eager!
We have many wonderful memories from this trip, and it also rekindled a bit of nostalgia. Some number of years ago, I spent three consecutive summers in France, working on an archaeology dig in Soissons, a small city in Picardie, a little over an hour northeast of Paris. We were excavating the Abbey of St. Jean des Vignes, an Augustinian monastery which had stood on a hill in the town. Over the years most of the stone from the abbey had been taken or sold, but the majestic west façade with its two Gothic towers still stands, as do the refectory and two sides of the cloister. Of course many of my fondest memories revolve around food!
We excavated six days a week under the hot sun, and sometimes the site guardians would allow an ice cream truck to drive through the façade to near where we were digging. My favorite treat from the ice cream man was a fruit givré, orange or lemon sorbet packed into the hollowed-out shell of the fruit itself.
We were housed at the Foyer des Jeunes Travailleurs, a hostel where workers from nearby factories would live during the week between their shifts. Our lunch was always a picnic on-site, using the same pocketknife we had just used the gently move dirt away from a shard of pottery or a piece of bone. But breakfast and dinner were at the Foyer. Breakfast consisted of baskets of bread with butter and jam, and bowls of coffee, hot chocolate, or steamed milk from machines.
Dinner was much more filling. There were always two meat choices from a cafeteria line, often some kind of pork or chicken, but occasionally rabbit or even horse meat. (Once the two meat choices were chevaline, i.e., horse meat, and pasta with meat sauce. Most of our group of Americans wouldn’t dare touch the chevaline, and I chuckled to myself, knowing that the same meat was probably in the pasta dish they all chose instead!)
And then there were the trays filled with small plates of sides. We were allowed three, and I usually took two salads and a dessert. Everything, of course, was typical French fare, and one of my favorite sides was céleri rémoulade, with its tart, creamy dressing and crunchy, finely julienned pieces of celery root. Back then, I had never known anything of celery besides the stalks, but now many stores carry celery root, a large knobby root also called celeriac, and, most happily, you can often find it at our local farmers’ market!
Céleri Rémoulade
Serves 6-8
INGREDIENTS:
⅓ cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon grainy mustard
1½ teaspoons Dijon mustard
1½ teaspoons chopped pickles, preferably sweet gherkins or bread & butter pickles, or sweet relish
1 teaspoon juice from pickles or relish
1½ teaspoons chopped capers
1½ teaspoons lemon juice
¼ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1-1½ pound celery root
DIRECTIONS:
Mix together all the ingredients except for the celery root. It is important to make the dressing first so that you can toss the cut pieces in the dressing immediately to prevent the vegetable from discoloring.
Peel the celery root, removing all the dark hairy skin and folds. Use a mandoline to cut into fine julienned matchsticks, or use a food processor with the large-hole disk to shred the root. Add to the dressing and toss to combine. Allow to sit for the flavors to meld. Taste and adjust salt and pepper to your liking, if necessary.