Celery Root Rémoulade – Julia Child
ShareJulia Child’s celery root rémoulade; an easy raw vegetable salad tossed with a creamy homemade dressing.
Between three options for the recipe this week I may have chosen the most unusual. I’d never heard of celery root before. Celery and celery seed… yes but root? Strangely large roundish root. I went in search for my star ingredient to only run into trouble.
I sort of knew I should’ve called around first. I’d convinced myself that I’d be greeted with confused and peculiar responses though. Calling ahead was scratched off the list since I didn’t want to attempt to explain something that I wasn’t even certain of.
First store… no such luck. I wasn’t surprised really. I found turnips and that was about as close as we got. Back to the car we trudged. Apparently I could have used that, or not? I’m not entirely sure but I figured if the next store didn’t have celery root and they had the large turnips I’d just seen then I would do that.
Second store… no large turnips like I’d previously seen. They had mini turnips but clearly something very different than I’d previously seen. Sigh. I’d almost given up. I was close to scratching this idea and doing the asparagus dish instead when I turned around and spotted the strangest thing. One lonely brown roundish root sitting by itself in an area of the produce section I rarely go to. Okay… it’s in the middle but it holds items I don’t use. One celery root. I grabbed it and the rest of our ingredients.
This was fun and smelled great… because I have a weird love for the smell of celery. But it was kind of weird too. Maybe it’s my dislike for mayo that really did the trick. Though homemade is 100x better than store bought and incredibly easy.
An easy raw vegetable salad that will compliment many main courses.
Celery Root Rémoulade
Ingredients
- 1 celery root
- 1 lemon or lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 1/2 Tbsp sour cream
- 1 Tbsp mayonnaise
- 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
- Boston lettuce leaves for plating
Instructions
- Using a knife or vegetable peeler, remove the brown outer layer of the celery root. Slice in half and remove any soft spots. Rub completely with a lemon or a splash of lemon juice.
- Shred celery root by hand or in a food processor with a shredding disc. Toss with 2 tsp lemon juice. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl mix salt, mustard, sour cream, mayonnaise and black pepper.
- Coat shredded celery root with sauce, tossing to coat evenly. Cover and chill 1-2 hours.
- Add small mounds of mixture to a single piece of Boston lettuce.
Notes
Celebrating 100 with Julia Child:
Week 1: Rolled omelette
Week 2: Chocolate mousse
Week 3: Coq au Vin
Week 4: Salade Niçoise
Week 5: Vichyssoise
Week 6: Reine de Saba
Week 7: Fillet Meunière
Week 8: Roast Chicken
Week 9: Charlotte Chantilly
Week 10: Bouillabaisse
Week 11: Ratatouille
Looks pretty! I am not a fan of celery or mayo, so I am not sure how this would go over. I am not sure where I would even start to find celery root!
I actually really love celery so this is very interesting. Hmmm…
Love it! Such a classic recipe. Your take on it is gorgeous.
so glad you found celery root! i’ve never seen it before either so i probably would’ve walked past it & not even gone to the section of the grocery store i’m not familiar with. this is a pretty dish, looks light and sounds great!
I don’t think I’ve ever tried celery root either. Did it taste like celery?
It really did smell just like celery, probably even more potent. I had it on the counter for a while and could smell it just sitting in the same room!
Wow I’ve never heard of celery root either :) this looks like a fun dish though! I have really been enjoying your Julia Child series! So fun.