Creamy baked potato and celeriac

I had to dig into the recipe archives for this one, not because I haven't been cooking lately, but mostly because I haven't cooked anything new lately. I have however been eating some great things, including a messy, drippy, insanely good burger from this place. Seriously, if you live in Ottawa, go to Hintonburger as soon as possible. You may have to wait in a smoky line, and you may be forced to eat in your car, but you definitely won't be disappointed. But back to the dish at hand. I first made it for Christmas dinner, where it accompanied some roast beef for dinner. Christmas is long past, but with this weekend's chilly temperatures, you might be mistaken in thinking it was right around the corner. Brrr. Anyway, if you're looking for a hearty side to warm you up and fill your tummy, this one is great. It's from the brilliant Jamie at Home book, which is probably my favourite Jamie Oliver book to date. The dish is essentially a scalloped potato concoction, though perhaps a bit easier to throw together? (that's a total guess on my part as I've never made scalloped potatoes before.)

Begin by sourcing out a fresh brain. Kidding! This is celeariac, but it kinda looks like a brain doesn't it? You'll find it in the grocery store near the potatoes or other root veggies. It often has a lot of dirt stuck in all the cracks and crevices, so you'll have to use your knife to peel away all the craggy, bumpy bits to reveal the off-white flesh beneath. Celeriac, if you've never had it before, has a flavour somewhere in between a potato, parsnip and maybe a turnip. It's also great in soup, or even pureed as a side.

After you have all the veggies chopped, in they go to a pan to be covered by milk, sage and parmesan cheese. And after a while in the oven, out comes a bubbly, cheesy mess that I defy any one to pass up. Please forgive the blacked edges -- blame my dirty oven which I refuse to clean until I replace it! Creamy baked potato and celeriac From Jamie at Home by Jamie Oliver 4 tablespoons butter, melted, plus a couple extra knobs, divided 2 pounds potatoes, peeled 1 small celeriac, peeled and halved Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 pint heavy cream (I used some milk and some cream) 1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped 1/2 a small bunch fresh sage, leaves picked and roughly chopped 4 ounces freshly grated Parmesan, divided Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and butter a large, shallow baking dish. Slice the potatoes and celeriac into disks just under 1-inch thick. Place the slices into a large pan, cover with cold water, season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes, then drain in a colander and allow the vegetables to steam dry for a minute or so. Put back into the pan with the cream, chopped garlic, sage, half the Parmesan and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Mix together, then tip into the buttered baking dish and spread out evenly. Pour any mixture left in the pan over the top. Sprinkle over the remaining Parmesan, cover tightly with aluminum foil and cook in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown.

Gnocched out!

Gnocchi is something I've never made before. To be honest, I've really only ever eaten gnocchi a handful of times, but have always enjoyed it. And I've seen enough folks on the Food Network make it to convince myself I could pull it off.

Let's just say I need some more practice.

Gnocchi dough was much more fragile than I ever imagined, and it's fiddly too. I think you need a very delicate hand to work the dough, and then the cooking takes some work too. Too long in the boiling water and the little parcels fall apart, destroying all your hard work.

Well, hard work is maybe a bit much. There's really not much effort involved -- just time.

Start by ricing your baked potatoes. I don't have a ricer, so I pushed them through an ordinary sieve with the back of a spoon. Worked okay.

You're left with really light, fluffy potatoes.

See why it's called riced? Looks similar, huh?

Then you add in the egg and flour, which is basically all gnocchi is. The recipe stresses as little flour as possible to keep the dough light, and I think I heeded this advice too closely. I'm sure a bit more flour would have resulted in a more stable gnocchi at the end.

I cut up the log and tried my best to roll them into classic gnocchi shapes, complete with fork tine marks. But the dough was really, really delicate, so they didn't roll very well.

Into the boiling water they go. They gnocchi are done when they float to the top, usually in just a minute or so.

I ruined my first batch because I left them too long after they rose. They completely fell apart in the water (note the cloudy appearence in the pot). You have to watch gnocchi like a hawk!

I served them with some browned butter and sage sauce. A pretty hearty meal, if a little disappointing. (One thing I didn't particularly like about this recipe is that it called for the gnocchi to be refrigerated before boiling, which I did. Problem was, because the gnocchi actually cook so fast, they rose to the top but weren't hot all the way through. Next time I will probably take them out of fridge a bit early to warm up first.)

Jamie Oliver's Potato Gnocchi
Makes a whole batch for 2-3 people (but adapted for just me)

6 medium potatoes
Olive oil
Nutmeg, grated
1/2 - 1 teaspoon salt
Good grind of pepper
1 egg yolk
1-2 handfuls of plain flour
Cornmeal or semolina flour

1. Pre-heat the oven to 220 deg C.

2. Rub the cleaned potatoes with olive oil, prick them all over with a fork and lay them on a roasting tray. Place in the oven for 1 hour until they are crispy on the outside and cooked (fluffy, soft) on the inside.

3. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then cut them in half, scoop out the fluffy inside and place it in a sieve (or a mouli or ricer if you have one of those - I don't!).

4. Press the potato through the sieve into a large bowl so that it looks like 'grated' potato. Don't be fooled -this is the start of wonderful dry mash

5. Add the nutmeg, salt, pepper and egg yolk to the sieved potato. Add enough flour to bind the mixture. Mix together and knead with your hands until you have a dry, doughy consistency. Add more flour if too wet, and water if too dry.

6. Divide the dough into three pieces and roll each piece out on a floured surface into long tubes the thickness of a sausage.

7. Cut each of the tubes into 2.5 cm pieces, then press the tines of a fork into both sides of the gnocchi to give the characteristic ribbed marking.

8. Place them on a a plate or tray sprinkled liberally with semolina or cornmeal, and allow to sit in the fridge for about 20 minutes to set.

9. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Drop the gnocchi into the water - how many you can fit in the pan depends on the size of the pan, because you don't want them sticking together. I used 10 in my pan.

10. The gnocchi are done when they rise to the surface of the boiling water.

11. Drain gently and carefully....otherwise they will end up as mashed potato! You can either use a slotted spoon, or gently drain in a colander.

12. Serve with whichever sauce you fancy - a tomato sauce, or grated cheese, or just tossed in butter and sage.