Roasted Beets with Celery Root Skordalia

Roasted Beets and Celery Root Skordalia

Roasted Beets with Celery Root Skordalia

Serves 4-6

Beets with Celery Root Skordalia is a healthy and delicious appetizer, salad, or side dish to serve with fried fish, grilled fish, or roast chicken. If you’re like me, and find yourself unreasonably in love with skordalia, you might find yourself eating it plain by the spoonful, or spread on a slice of crusty bread.

Beets, roasted and peeled (see NOTE below)
1 celery root, softball sized (1 cup cooked and pureed)
6 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt
3-5 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Cut off bottom and top of celery root. Place celery root flat on cutting board and use a sharp knife to remove all the peel and gnarly roots. Cut peeled celery root into six wedges. Cut out any soft spongy matter from center of celery root.

Toss celery root with salt and 2 tablespoons olive oil, and place in aluminum foil packet, making sure the packet’s seams are sealed tightly. Put foil packet on baking sheet. (If making roasted beets, bake them at the same time in a separate foil packet.) Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until celery root wedges are tender all the way through. Place baked celery root and olive oil in food processor and puree, scraping down sides as necessary.

Puree garlic by mashing it into salt or grate it finely. Add pureed garlic and salt, vinegar, and remaining olive oil to processor and combine thoroughly. Taste and add salt, garlic, vinegar, or olive oil, as needed.

Serve with roasted beets. Or by the spoonful.

NOTE on Roasting Beets: Preheat oven to 400°F. Wash beets and cut off greens (save for other use), leaving an inch of stem (don’t cut into beet itself). Rub beets with olive oil, and wrap tightly in foil packet (or place in tightly covered baking dish). Bake for 40 minutes to 1 1/2 hours, depending on size of beets and how fresh they are. Roasted beets are done when they’re tender if poked with a knife or skewer. Let beets cool, and slip off their skins (I wear gloves when I do this to protect my hands from staining). Roasted beets may be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator for about a week.

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