Celeriac tacos

Search

Celeriac tacos

The celeriac swap for corn tortillas – trust me, it’s not a gimmick, the humble root truly makes a phenomenal canvas for all your filling flavour – means you can happily double the amount of tacos you normally eat as the base is so light, yet deeply rich in flavour. It’s the perfect way to indulge in a diversity of foods, which is one of the key bits of advice for maintaining a healthy microbiome, the epicentre of human health. As well as a happy tummy, you’ll have tap-dancing tastebuds, as these tacos are out of this world.The key to a great taco is to layer in the flavours, but don’t overfill it. 

Ingredients

For the taco shells

• 1 celeriac
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the taco fillings

• 100g houmous, or roasted squash
• 250g garlic mushrooms
• 100g watercress, soft winter leaves, or microherbs
• 4 tablespoon toasted seeds

Method

1. To make, the first thing you need to do is preheat your oven to 180°C/Gas 4
2. Carve the skin from the celeriac using a knife (veg peelers don’t always stand up to the tough skin).
3. The ends of the celeriac are likely to be too small to make a decent-sized taco shell, so cut a slice from the smaller end to expose a circular area similar to a corn tortilla-like shape.
4. Using a large sharp knife, cut the celeriac into slices as thin as possible. A medium-sized celeriac should yield around 12 tortilla-like rounds (cut more if needed).
5. Some slices make have little cracks in them, from the celeriac splitting during growth. You can use offcuts from slices that didn’t quite come out as whole rounds to patch it up: trim the patches so they’re not too large or thick, just big enough to fully patch up the cracked area. A little sprinkle of salt will help the patches stick.
6. Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper. Drizzle a little olive over (about 1 tsp) and dust with a pinch of salt and pepper.
7. Baste each slice of celeriac in the seasoned oil on each side and arrange in a single layer. You’ll probably get 4–6 slices on the paper. Top with another layer of greaseproof paper and continue to layer up the remaining celeriac slices, giving each layer a light basting of oil and some seasoning.
8. Cover the top layer with greaseproof paper and set a dish or another baking tray on top to keep the celeriac slices flat. Slide into the centre of the oven and bake for 15 minutes: this softens the celeriac in readiness to quickly sear before serving.
9. As they bake, get all the toppings ready. You can either have bowls on the tables for DIY assembly, or layer up the fillings before serving.
10. To sear the taco shells, set a large frying pan over a medium-high heat, simply add 1–2 baked celeriac rounds to the pan (no oil needed) and cook for 1–2 minutes, or until lightly golden and charred on each side (return them to the oven to keep warm while you sear the remaining shells).
11. A delicious filling assembly is a layer of the houmous or Mayan pepita pesto, topped with cooked mushrooms, followed by kimchi, soft greens, raw or pickled red onions and a finishing dusting of seeds.

This stunning recipe comes from former MIH teacher Rachel De Thamples new cook book Winter Wellness.