Celeriac “Lasagna”
Every recipe in this issue comes from this carb-saturated noggin, except this one. This one is the satiating brainchild of the amazing team at St. John Bread & Wine. It was early January when we visited and ordered nearly one of everything on the menu. Each dish blew our minds more than the last, which continued until we got to their celeriac and cheddar dish. It was layer after creamy layer of perfectly cooked vegetables and cheese.
This is an ode to that masterpiece. My best attempt to recreate it but with a more Italian approach. It’s wild how well cheddar and parmesan work together yet are never really played with together. They work because they are both these earthy salty hard cheeses. This attempt at recreating that dish is close, and yet different in all the ways to make it Sunday Sghettis worthy.
That all said, this is going to be the longest intro to a recipe because there’s one other anecdote that needs to get out there. While enjoying our meal at St. John, we sat next to and had a great conversation with Farokh Engineer and his family. We talked about what it meant to him to be Parsi, and how the head chef also was. I say this because after we looked him up, his story and legacy in English cricket is totally amazing and worth looking at. So here’s his Wikipedia page to help keep it all alive.
The Recipe
Difficulty: Easy
Prep. time: 15 min.
Cook time: 45+ min.
Serves: 4
Special Equipment
9 x 9 baking pan
Microplane or fine grater
Notes
N/A
Ingredients
1 large celeriac (celery root) - peeled, cut in half, and sliced into ⅛” thick sheets
2 oz. piece cheddar cheese - grated
2 oz. piece parmesan - grated
⅓ cup Pecorino Romano + more for plating
1½ cups heavy cream
4 bay leaves
4 tbsp. fresh finely chopped parsley
⅛ cup extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
Ground black pepper
Preparation
01.
Preheat oven to 400° F and place rack in the middle of the oven.
02.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, add the heavy cream, Pecorino Romano, bay leaves, and parsley. Bring to a simmer while stirring, and reduce the sauce by about ⅓. Reduce to low heat once the sauce has thickened and can coat the back of a spoon. Add salt and pepper to taste.
03.
Drizzle a little olive oil in the bottom of the baking pan. Add a layer of the sliced celeriac, and then grate both cheeses over the vegetables - it is not necessary to completely cover. For the next layer, lay down vegetables, a few spoons of cream sauce, and a coating of cheese. Alternate layers until the top layer, then cover with just cheese. Note: At least ¼ cup of cream sauce should remain.
04.
Cover the “lasagna” with aluminum foil and place in the oven for roughly 1 hour. After an hour, check for doneness by inserting a sharp knife or cake tester to the center and an edge, it should go through the lasagna fairly easily. If not cook for another 10-15 minutes. When it does, remove the foil, and turn the oven to broil. Broil until the cheese has browned - it should take no more than 5 minutes.
05.
Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Slice the pieces of “lasagna” into even pieces and plate them. Spoon the remaining sauce over the pieces and serve.