Nadine Abensur's baked celeriac in saffron and lemon sauce with Gruyère

I was thinking about Gruyère, and when to make Gary Rhodes Gruyère flan, when I found another (quite different) recipe also with Gruyère by Nadine Abensur, which I tried last night.


Celeriac  Apium graveolens rapaceum is an unattractive gnarled looking vegetable that looks something of a cross between a bloated fennel, celery and a turnip, but it's delicious - slightly aniseedy and crunchy and well worth cooking if you see it in the supermarkets.

Celeriac, with more information from the Assured Produce website 

Baked Celeriac in a Saffron and Lemon Sauce with Gruyere 


This is my version.  Nadine Abensur suggests double cream, but I found this curdled, and made it a little too rich.  Instead, I would suggest a saffron béchamel sauce.  She also suggest chives, but I forgot to buy any.

For the celeriac

1 large head of celeriac

500ml water

juice of ½ lemon

50ml olive oil

2 garlic cloves

25g butter

For the bechamel sauce

250ml single cream
10 whole peppercorns
3-4 saffron strands
half an onion (whole)

20g butter
10g flour (although to be frank, I always improvise)

For the topping

100g Gruyere cheese, finely grated
a handful of chives, finely chopped (optional)

Peel the celeriac and remove all the woody, gnarled parts.

Cut into thin (3mm) slices and place in a saucepan with the water, lemon, oil and garlic.  Cover with a lid, bring to boil and simmer for 7-8 mins until tender but still firm to the touch.  Set aside.  My experience was that the thinner the better (and thinner than in the picture, below) almost like potato dauphanoise.

Meanwhile, put the cream, pepper corns, onion and saffron in a pan.  Place over a very low heat and bring up to simmering point.  Remove from the heat and take out the peppercorns, onion and saffron.  In another pan melt the butter gently.

Add flour until there is enough to make a thick paste, then very slowly add the milk, trying to do so in a way that thickens the paste gradually into a liquid.  Sometimes this ends up with lumps - don't worry - you can strain the end product through a sieve and no one will know.  Continue to heat very gently until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.  If you want a slightly more technical version, I would recommend Delia Smith's (she uses milk not cream however).  Set aside.

Heat the oven to 160 degrees.  Place the celeriac slices in a lightly buttered dish, add the sauce and most of the chives (if using).  Sprinkle with the grated cheese and place in the oven.

Cook for 20-30 mins until the cheese is golden brown.  Garnish with the remaining chives or just grated pepper.