Cheesy Celeriac Slice - a bit of a serious cheese-fest!

As part of my continued attempts to foil the demon gout, I've been following a largely vegetarian menu.  

Well, I reckoned that it wouldn't do any of us any harm to lay off the meat for a bit.  So for the last few weeks, I've had my eye open for likely-sounding vegetarian recipes.

I came across a recipe for a Potato & Cheese slice which the writer had prepared for her Wedding buffet. However, what to use instead of potato to make it more attractive to him indoors?

For some reason, celeriac immediately popped into my head.  Well, celery certainly goes with cheese sauce, celeriac is capable of being mashed like potato - I reckoned it'd be worth a go.  I am very glad I went with that celeriac thought, as the end result - we had it for dinner last night - was not only delicious, but a bit of a celeriac revelation.   Needless to say, I wasn't content with just changing potato for celeriac, but I tweaked the recipe a bit further and added a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, just to help those cheesy flavours along.

Served as a slice - as pictured - or even as individual Cheesy Celeriac Rolls (like sausage rolls), it went perfectly with baked beans for an easy dinner.  It is just as nice cold (I'm using up the leftovers for my lunch today) with salad.

Oh - and there wasn't a peep of protest from the boys.  Well, not once they had a forkful in their mouths.  ~Satisfaction~

20 October 2016 : I can't believe it's been so long since I made this last!  Still, it's worth the wait and this version of it was no exception.  I tweaked the recipe a tiny bit by adding grated nutmeg and freshly ground black pepper to the original celeriac mash, which meant I could leave out the cayenne pepper which doesn't agree with us these days.  It definitely doesn't seem to have noticed the change, as it was just as delicious as always.  For me, the recipe is entirely dependent upon choosing a good, super flavoursome Cheddar cheese.  Coupling that with the celeriac is absolutely the base of a good end result.

CHEESY CELERIAC SLICE  (serves 4 - makes one slice)

Ingredients :

500g celeriac, peeled and cubed
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp Dijon or wholegrain mustard
150g grated strong cheddar
150g red leicester, cut into tiny cubes
a bunch of spring onions, trimmed and sliced finely
375g ready made puff pastry
1 egg, whisked.

Method :

Pre-heat oven to 200degC/400degF/gas 6.

Boil celeriac until tender along with a pinch of sea salt, then drain well, allow to steam dry and mash with a pinch of pepper and nutmeg - ensuring some texture is left in the mash.  Allow to cool.

Add the cheese, Dijon mustard and onions to the celeriac and stir to combine.  Taste to check for seasoning.

Lay out one of the sheets of puff pastry and roll lightly to reduce the thickness, taking care to keep the rectangular shape.

Take half of the cheese mixture and press into a sausage shape along one of the long sides.

Egg wash the opposite side, and roll into a long cylinder, pressing down along the egg washed side to seal.  Place on a baking tray.

Repeat with the other sheet of pastry, then paint all the rolls liberally with egg wash.  Taking a fork, prick along the top of each roll to allow steam to escape easily.

Place into the oven to bake for around 30 minutes.

Slice and serve.

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