Celeriac “rice” with decadent porcini mushroom ragout

Celeriac – otherwise known as celery root – is a vastly underrated and underused vegetable despite its unique taste and texture. The “rice” is a good alternative to carbs and also a change from its cauliflower counterpart, which can be hard to digest for some people (cauliflower contains mannitol, which is an alcohol sugar part of the polyol family that can trigger indigestion symptoms for about 30% of the population). Having said that, this is not a low fat recipe because of the decadent mushroom sauce and its heavy cream content. I served it as dinner party “amuse-bouches” in little ramekins and they went down really well.

Note: You can easily make both the “rice” and sauce ahead of time – store them separately in the fridge however. Reheat and then serve “rice” with sauce at the last minute.

Ingredients

For the celeriac rice:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp of thyme
• 1 whole celeriac, peeled and cubed
• a few tbsps of pine nuts or other nuts seeds you like

For the mushroom ragout:

• 2/3 cup of dried porcini mushrooms (these are KEY to the recipe, don’t replace them with anything – they can be found at Spinneys)
• 1 cup of regular button mushrooms, cleaned and cut into quarters or sliced
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1/2 liter of good quality chicken stock (I get mine from Cleanlivingcompany.ae)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (optional in a low FODMAP diet)
• 2 tbsp ghee or butter
• 2 tbsp of cognac (optional but it adds a lot of flavor and the alcohol evaporates anyway…)
• 1 cup of heavy cream
• Pink Himalayan sea salt
• Pepper
• A few sprigs of fresh thyme

Instructions

1. Preheat oven at 350 F
2. Place the cubed celeriac in a blender and pulse until it is the texture of rice.
3. Mix it in a bowl with the olive oil, thyme and salt
4. Spread it out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and put it in the over for 20 minutes
5. Take out of the oven, toss in the pine nuts, put it in a bowl and cover it so that it retains moisture
6. Soak poricini mushrooms in boiling water for 30 minutes – 1 hour until plump
7. Melt ghee/butter in a large pan on medium heat, add garlic and toss for about 1 minute
8. Add button mushrooms, salt and pepper, cook until the mushrooms have reduced by half, about 5-10 minutes
9. Add porcini mushrooms
10. Add cognac and either let it reduce for 1 minute or you can also flambé it
11. Add chicken stock and let it simmer until a bit more than half of it has evaporated, around 5-10 minutes. The liquid should be dark and it the sauce will thicken slightly.
12. Add cream and mix until it simmers, about 1 minute. Taste it and adjust salt and pepper as per your liking.
13. Turn off the heat and serve over the warm “rice”. At this point you can also refrigerate it and reheat when ready to serve. When you do reheat it, depending on the consistency, you may want to add a bit of stock or cream.