Baked celeriac with wild mushrooms, thyme and hazelnuts

Serves - 4

You’ll need

• 1 medium celeriac
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 25g butter
• 300g wild mushrooms, or a good mix of mushrooms, torn or thickly sliced
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 thyme sprigs, leaves picked
• 40g hazelnuts
• Juice of ½ lemon
• Small handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• Sea salt
• Black pepper

Method

1. Get the celeriac roasting

Heat the oven to 200°C fan. Peel the celeriac and cut it into thick wedges or generous slices. Put it into a roasting tin, add 1 tbsp of the olive oil, season well with salt and black pepper, then toss everything together. Roast for 35–40 minutes, turning once halfway through, until the celeriac is tender and catching nicely at the edges. You want it soft enough to give easily, with a bit of colour for good measure.

2. Toast the hazelnuts

While the celeriac roasts, put the hazelnuts into a dry frying pan over a medium heat and toast for 3–4 minutes until fragrant. Tip them onto a plate and leave them to cool slightly, then roughly chop them. They want to bring crunch and nuttiness, not disappear into the background.

3. Cook the mushrooms properly

Heat the remaining olive oil and the butter in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook for 6–8 minutes until they have given up their moisture and started to colour properly. Do not fuss with them too much. A bit of proper browning is doing useful work here.

4. Build the flavour

Add the shallot to the pan with a small pinch of salt and cook for 2–3 minutes until softened. Stir in the garlic and thyme and cook for another minute, just until fragrant. Squeeze in the lemon juice and give everything a good stir. It should smell earthy, buttery and nicely lifted rather than heavy.

5. Bring it all together

Once the celeriac is roasted, transfer it to a serving dish or plates. Spoon over the mushrooms and any buttery juices from the pan, making sure the good bits do not get left behind. Scatter over the chopped hazelnuts and most of the parsley.

6. Serve

Finish with the remaining parsley and a final grind of black pepper. Serve straight away while the celeriac is still warm and the mushrooms are properly savoury. Very good on its own, or alongside lentils, a green salad or something grain-based if you want to make it go a little further.

A couple of helpful notes
- A mix of mushrooms gives the best flavour and texture here, but chestnut mushrooms will do a perfectly good job if that is what you have.
- If your celeriac wedges are especially thick, give them a little longer in the oven rather than serving them before they have softened properly.
- A spoonful of crème fraîche or a little soft goat’s cheese on the side would work very nicely if you wanted a slightly richer finish.