Celeriac Sofrito

Recipe kindly provided by Miri Lewis whose blog The Great Cookery Adventure features a wide selection of vegetarian and vegan dishes.       Celeriac Sofrito Recipe Type : Vegetarian/vegan Author: Miri Lewis Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 30 mins Total time: 40 mins Serves: 4-6 Sofrito has its origins in Sephardic Jewish cooking. It involves slow cooking in a pot on the stovetop with only oil and very little liquid. The result is a very tender texture and rich, comforting flavour. Turmeric, garlic and lemon are traditional flavours for this. Ingredients 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 celeriac, peeled and cut into approx 5 cm x 1.5 cm batons. I intentionally cut some a little small and some a little big, for different textures. 8 small waxy potatoes (charlottes are recommended) cut into quarters 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed 1 teaspoon ground turmeric ½ teaspoon ground cumin ½ teaspoon ground coriander 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, lightly crushed ¾ teaspoon smoked paprika 1 mug-full of vegetable stock (1 cube) – you may need a little extra liquid juice from half a lemon – more of less depending on your preferences salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste Instructions The potatoes take a little longer to cook, so start them off cooking before you peel and chop the celeriac. Heat the oil in a large saucepan/or deep frying pan and add the potatoes, stirring quite frequently on a medium heat. Add the celeriac when it is ready, along with the turmeric, fennel seeds and other spices. Fry these all together for 5-10 minutes, until the spices start smelling fragrant and the veggies look cooked at the edges. Add the garlic and fry for another 5 minutes, stirring all the time to prevent it from burning. Then add the mug of stock, and simmer for at least 20 minutes. As there isn’t that much liquid, you will need to stir quite regularly to prevent it from sticking to the bottom (you may need to add a little more liquid, but don’t add too much). When the potato quarters have cooked through and the smaller wedges of celeriac have started to disintegrate and thicken the sauce, season with the lemon, salt and pepper. Serving suggestion: Goes very well with thick Greek yoghurt, Labneh or vegan yoghurt. 3.2.1255