Celery Root Steak with Mushrooms and Vegan Mozzarella
INGREDIENTS (STEAK):
- 3 slices of celery root
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- sea salt
-
black pepper
Buy INGREDIENTS (MUSHROOMS):
- several fresh mushrooms
-
0,5 teaspoon clarified butter (ghee)
- sea salt
-
black pepper
INGREDIENTS (SALAD):
- 1-2 handfuls lamb’s lettuce
- 0,25 red onion
- 2 slices vegan mozzarella
- several walnuts
A vegetable steak sounds interesting, doesn’t it? Try making a celery root steak. It seems to me that it is a fairly underrated vegetable that we often use only for soup or broth. Of course, you can add more of your favourite spices and experiment with the flavour 🙂
Preparation
I peeled the celery root and cut it into slices about 1 cm thick each. I spread oil on the slices and seasoned them with salt and pepper on both sides. Then I put them on a baking sheet and baked at 200°C (390°F) for about 45 minutes, until the slices were soft and golden brown.
I heated the clarified butter in a frying pan, fried the chopped mushrooms and added some salt and pepper. I put the lamb’s lettuce on a plate, then I put the baked celery steaks on it. I added the mushrooms and diced onion and crumbled the mozzarella on top. At the end, I topped it with some walnuts 🙂
One centimetre is the number that matters
Thickness decides everything here. At one centimetre the slice bakes through to soft in the stated 45 minutes while the outside colours. Cut them thin and they dry out and go leathery long before they brown; cut them at two centimetres and the outside is done while the middle is still hard and sharp-tasting.
Cut the root across, not lengthways, so every slice is a round of roughly even thickness. A large celeriac gives you three or four good rounds from the middle, and the small curved end pieces are better saved for soup than forced onto the tray.
Peel deeper than you think
Celeriac skin is knobbly and dirt sits in the folds, so a vegetable peeler is not enough. Cut the top and bottom flat, stand the root on a board and take the skin off in strips with a knife, going deep enough to remove the whole brown layer including the roots hidden in the hollows.
The cut flesh browns in air like an apple. If you are not baking straight away, keep the slices in water with a squeeze of lemon, and dry them properly before oiling, because water on the surface means steam instead of browning.
Oil both sides, and use the whole tray
The recipe says oil on both sides and that is the difference between a baked vegetable and something that reads as a steak. Oil carries the heat to the surface and produces the golden crust, while a dry slice just dehydrates.
Spread the slices out with space between them. Crowded on a small tray they release moisture that has nowhere to go, and they steam themselves pale. Turning them once at the halfway mark gives you colour on both faces.
Mushrooms in a dry pan first
Mushrooms are mostly water and they release it as soon as they hit heat. Put them into fat straight away and they sit in that liquid and go grey and soft, which is why so many fried mushrooms end up disappointing.
Start them in a hot dry pan, let the water come out and evaporate, and only then add the clarified butter and the salt. Salting early pulls out even more liquid, so it goes in at the end. Ghee is in the recipe rather than butter because it takes the heat mushrooms need without burning.
Putting the plate together
Everything cold goes on last: the lamb’s lettuce underneath so it wilts only slightly under the warm steaks, then the mushrooms, the raw red onion, the crumbled mozzarella and the walnuts. Assemble it right before eating, since the leaves collapse within a few minutes under hot slices.
The celery steaks themselves keep two days in the fridge and reheat well in a dry pan, better than in a microwave, which turns them soft. Bake a whole tray at once and the second day takes five minutes. If you would rather have vegetable dinners like this one planned into the week with a shopping list, that is what the Diet & Training by Ann app does.
Celery root steak
Ingredients
Method
- Peel the celery root with a knife rather than a peeler, cutting deep enough to remove the whole brown layer, and slice it across into rounds about 1 cm thick.
- Spread oil on the slices and season with salt and pepper on both sides.
- Spread them on a baking sheet with space between them and bake at 200 C (390 F) for about 45 minutes, turning once, until soft and golden brown.
- Start the chopped mushrooms in a hot dry pan and let their water evaporate, then add the clarified butter and season with salt and pepper.
- Put the lamb's lettuce on a plate, lay the baked celery steaks on it and add the mushrooms and diced red onion.
- Crumble the mozzarella over the top and finish with walnuts, assembling right before eating.
Notes
Frequently asked questions
About one centimetre, which is what the recipe says and what makes the 45 minutes work. Thinner slices dry out and go leathery before they brown, and at two centimetres the outside is done while the middle is still hard. Cut the root across so every slice is an even round.
With a knife, not a peeler. The skin is knobbly and dirt sits in the folds, so cut the top and bottom flat, stand the root on a board and take the skin off in strips, deep enough to remove the whole brown layer including the roots hidden in the hollows.
Oil carries the heat to the surface and produces the golden crust that makes this read as a steak rather than a baked vegetable. A dry slice just dehydrates. Spread the slices out on the tray too, because crowded together they steam themselves pale.
Because they are mostly water and they release it the moment they hit heat. Put them straight into fat and they sit in that liquid. Start them in a hot dry pan, let the water evaporate, and only then add the clarified butter and the salt, since salting early draws out even more.
Yes. They keep two days in the fridge and reheat well in a dry pan rather than a microwave, which turns them soft. Bake a whole tray at once and the second day takes five minutes. Assemble the plate right before eating, since the leaves collapse under hot slices. Vegetable dinners like this one come planned into the week with a shopping list in the Diet & Training by Ann app.
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