Colm O'Gorman's Sunday Roast: veggie-friendly Stuffed Celeriac with Horseradish Cream

Stuffed Celeriac with Horseradish Cream - a veggie-friendly roast alternative

May is Sustainability Month here at the Irish Examiner, and the perfect time to think about the small changes that we can all make to our diets to help meet the climate challenge. Veganism is on the rise, with more and more people opting for a fully plant-based diet, often for a combination of ethical and environmental reasons. Many of us though may not be ready to switch so radically, but we can still make a real difference by making small changes.

Switching to a plant-based diet for just two meals a week can have a real impact. A study carried out last year showed that if everyone in the UK did just that, it would save 291m metric tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. To put that number in perspective, it would take almost 14bn trees to capture that much carbon annually. Little changes really can have a big impact.

I love vegetarian food. My mother went vegetarian in the mid-seventies, and we grew up eating a vegetarian diet two to three times a week. If like me, you are not ready to give up meat completely, then eating plant-based meals twice a week is very doable, especially if you use a little imagination. My tip is to avoid overly processed vegetarian and vegan foods. I question their sustainability given the amounts of processing involved, and I do not think they taste nearly as good as whole foods. Do not think about meat replacements, but rather alternatives. Try using nuts, pulses, and legumes, they are delicious and incredibly versatile.

This week’s Sunday roast recipe is Roast Stuffed Celeriac with Horseradish Cream. A plant-based take on the traditional Sunday roast.

Celeriac is a fabulous vegetable. When roasted it is sweet and creamy with a slightly nutty flavour that goes beautifully with the hazelnuts, cranberries, lentils, and sweet potato I use for the stuffing in this recipe. Horseradish is the perfect accompaniment to celeriac. For this recipe I combine horseradish sauce with yoghurt and some other ingredients, and it is fabulous. Use soy yogurt if you want to go fully vegan. If you happen to have some cranberry sauce, serve that on the side as well.

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Roast Stuffed Celeriac with Horseradish Cream

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

Use soy yogurt if you want to go fully vegan. If you happen to have some cranberry sauce, serve that on the side as well.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 30 mins

Cooking Time

 2 hours 0 mins

Total Time

 2 hours 30 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• Roast Celeriac

• 1 large celeriac

• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• Flaky sea salt

• 1 tsp cumin seed

• 1 onion

• 3 cloves garlic

• ½ tsp ground nutmeg

• 150g sweet potato

• 75g roasted hazelnuts

• 150g tinned cooked green lentils

• 75g dried cranberries

• A few sprigs of fresh thyme

• Horseradish cream

• 250g Greek yoghurt

• 2-3 tbsp horseradish sauce

• 1 tsp honey

• ½ tsp flaky sea salt

• Juice of half a lemon

Method

1. Cut away the roots from the end of the celeriac and scrub the skin clean under running cold water. Dry it off with some kitchen towel and trim the bottom so that it can stand on its end. Preheat your oven to 180 Celsius for a fan oven, or 200 Celsius for a conventional oven.

2. Stand the celeriac in the centre of a large piece of foil and rub it all over with one tablespoon of olive oil. Sprinkle over a little flaky sea salt and wrap the celeriac in the foil, closing the top over to seal it in. Roast in the oven for one hour.

3. Peel and cut the sweet potato into 1cm chunks. Bring a pan of water to the boil and cook the sweet potato until it is tender, about eight minutes will do it. Drain into a colander and set aside.

4. Peel and finely chop the onion. Peel and mince the cloves of garlic. Roughly chop the roasted hazelnuts. Drain the tin of cooked lentils and weigh out 150g.

5. Heat a heavy based non-stick pan over a high heat. Add two tablespoons of olive oil and reduce the heat to medium. Add the onion and fry that for three to four minutes until it softens. Add the cumin seed, the garlic and the nutmeg and fry for another two minutes, stirring all the time. Next, stir in the cooked sweet potato, the hazelnuts, lentils, and the dried cranberries. Cook for a few minutes, then remove the pan from the heat and set aside for now.

6. When the celeriac has had one hour in the oven, remove it from roasting tray. Cut off the top to give you a lid about 3-4cm think. Next, use a spoon or an ice cream scoop to scoop out the celeriac flesh, leaving a 1-2cm wall and being careful not to break through the skin, and leaving at least a 1cm thick base. Roughly chop the scooped-out flesh and add that to the pan of stuffing. Pick the leaves from a few sprigs of fresh thyme and stir that in as well. Taste and season as required.

7. Put the hollowed-out celeriac back in the foil and spoon in the stuffing. You will have more than you need, so just pile it on the top and allow the extra stuffing to fall around the sides. Op the lid back on the celeriac and seal it in the foil once again. Pop it back in the oven to roast for one more hour. When it has just fifteen minutes left to go, unwrap the foil to allow the celeriac skin to become golden.

8. Put the ingredients for the horseradish cream in a bowl and whisk to combine. I like my horseradish cream to have a bit of a kick, but you can adjust to your own taste. If you want it a little milder, add the horseradish gradually, tasting as you go until you get it just perfect. You can also add a little more salt or honey if you wish.

9. Serve the celeriac on a warm platter, with the extra stuffing around the edges and the horseradish cream, and some cranberry sauce if you have any, on the side. Serve with crispy roast potatoes and delicious green vegetables such as tender stem broccoli for a Sunday Roast to remember.