celery root mash & sauteed cremini mushrooms
April 9, 2015 § 38 Comments
We had a fabulous dinner the other night and I am here to share two side dishes to serve with grilled steak. It’s not often we sit down for a steak dinner and this time I wanted to change up the menu a little. For years I have heard that beef and potatoes are not the best food combining choice, but no matter because I keep fixing frites, twice baked or mashed potatoes with our steak. I just love those salty starchy tubers and seriously can not get enough of them.
However, at the market the other day I saw some very fresh and gnarly looking organic celery root and decided to act on my food combining knowledge and make a celery root mash with our steak instead of mashed potatoes.
The preparation is exactly the same as mashed potatoes. Peel, dice, boil, drain, mash with butter and milk, add a little salt. Simple cooking and much lighter than mashed potatoes.
c e l e r y m a s h
- 2 lbs of celery root (I bought 3 roots), peeled and diced
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 3 tablespoons butter
- sea salt
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the celery root and cook until tender, approximately 30 minutes. Drain and return to the pot to the stovetop on low heat. Allow the extra bit of water to steam out. Add the milk, butter and a generous pinch of salt and mash with a potato masher until it is as smooth as you like it.
The second side to enjoy with your steak…
Sautéed cremini mushrooms. Cook these for a long time! We have sautéed crimini mushrooms quite often with chopped thyme and wine, which is wonderful. My son prefers them without the wine so I usually leave it out. This recipe is simple and slow, the flavor is vibrant and the texture is soft and delicate.
c r i m i n i m u s h r o o m s a u t é
- 1 pound cremini mushrooms, cleaned & sliced
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cloves of minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons minced parsley
- chopped thyme (optional)
- 1/4 cup white wine (optional)
Heat the butter and oil in a medium sauté pan over medium heat. When the butter’s foaming, add the mushrooms and stir. Cook, allowing them sit in the pan for the first 5 minutes to brown, and then stirring occasionally until they soften. If you are using wine add it now and allow the liquid to evaporate. Stir in the garlic and parsley (or thyme) and continue to cook for 30 minutes on low heat until caramelized.
COTTAGE GROVE HOUSE 
Yum! Definitely trying the celery mash. What a great idea :)
Hi there, thank you for stopping in for a visit. Hope you get a chance to make the celery root mash!
yum! two of my favorites!
Me too! Especially with steak…this was a first making celery root mash, it’s a new favorite. Thanks for stopping in. :)
Fabulous 😊
Thank you Sonal. :)
Wonderful, delicious, Love both dishes.
Me too! Thank you Suzanne.
Love celery mash, and your mushrooms look fabulous too. Great options for sides. Sometimes people forget that there’s more to life than chips!
I agree. Without too much thought I always go for the potatoes. Celery mash is so good. Glad I finally some! Thank you for stopping in and leaving me a message. :)
Very nice. I usually do my celeriac mash 50/50 with potato. It truly is excellent with steak.
I saw some recipes with 50/50 celeriac/potato but I’ve never tried it…yet. I’ll give it a go next steak dinner.
That’s how I like my mushrooms. In fact, to make soup I then just add organic vegetable stock and blitz, add a little cream, adjust the seasoning and viola! So simple. I’ll leave you with the celeriac, as we call it, as it’s not my favourite. I’ve tried to like it! Oh, I did buy the sausages and organic cauli earlier in the week. But I forgot to replace flour I’d chucked (spring-cleaning) so I couldn’t make the cheese sauce! Oops.
I had no idea mushroom soup could be so easy! I’m surely going to make some. We love mushroom soup and it’s one I have never tried to make. Thank you for the idea! What’d you end up doing with the sausages and cauli?
Ate them with polenta! Not the best choice. And the first time to make polenta, with a little organic veg stock, oil, butter, milk, Turkish red pepper flakes and a sprinkle of garlic granules (and seasoning). Actually, the polenta was nice and creamy – I just wouldn’t want to eat it plain!
Forgot to mention: I do what I call a runny roux for the soup. Equal quantities of olive oil (or a mix of it and butter) and plain/AP flour, about 2 tablespoons. Set over low heat until it bubbles slightly I then dump the stock into it, add a dried bay leaf, a pinch of red pepper flakes and bring that to nearly boiling. Then, add the cooked mushrooms, remove the bay leaf and blitz. Taste for seasoning and add a little cream. In autumn I sub thyme with freshly grated nutmeg – used sparingly. Just enough at the end to barely taste the soup.
Ah yes! It helps thicken the soup. Love the idea of red pepper flakes. I’m going to pick up more cremini’s over the weekend and give it a go. Your polenta sounds heavenly. Love how you cook!
Have just checked exactly what cremini’s are, and we call them chestnut. For a soup I would use either white or chestnut. It won’t make a lot of difference to either the colour or overall flavour. It’s getting the mushrooms nicely golden brown that makes all the difference.
What a super combination. Celeriac is not too common here which is why I grow my own. This is a great way to prepare and serve it.
I was imagining how fun it would be to pull up a nice celery root! They look like they came from a different planet. :) I love them and I would grow them too if they were unavailable.
Lovely to see a post that heroes a side dish – and what a good alternative to potatoes for mash…..
This was the first time making celery root mash and we loved it. I think it’s a great combination with beef. Always good to cut down on the starchy foods…although I do love potatoes!
I always loved celery root, there are not so many recipes out there. So, thank you so much for your post. This one I will make definitely. Thanks.
And it’s such a simple preparation. Just as easy as mashed potatoes! I’m new to celery root and I love it too. Thank you Cecilia for stopping in.
What to the what. Yes. We have such similar tastes; your blog inspires me. Sure you’re looking forward to more delicious breakfasts bike rides and breakfasts this summer, “Seana.” :-)
Thank you Shanna! Delicious breakfast bike rides sound like heaven right about now. We are smack in the middle of a house improvement and oh how I’d love to go do something of leisure! Well, if baking is leisure than I guess I will be partaking this weekend because I am going to make your brownie/blondies! My son’s really looking forward to it because I haven’t baked him a thing in a couple of months. Enjoy the weekend. :)
Yum! I much prefer celeriac mash to potato,usually use cream rather than butter and milk. Unlike potato, It doesn’t turn gluey in the processor either if you wanted to make a silky smooth puree. It also makes a fantastic soup, with a little tart apple and all the tops from a bunch of celery. I’m so glad winter is on the way!
Yes, and the celery root is so much lighter and you feel less “full”, especially after eating steak. I have had celery root soup before and it was fantastic. I’ll have to pick up some more and try making it myself. Tart apple and celery tops sound like a great idea. Thank you! We’re trying to get into Spring. The heater just kicked on and it’s suppose to rain all weekend. Still preparing winter recipes!
Bang on! Good sides for a steak there my friend :)
Thank you very much. :)
Thank you for sharing this recipe, a must try.
Hi there. Thank you for stopping by and following my blog. Just took a look at your blog and very nice work!
Thank you so much for stopping by and the compliment. I try to blog as much as I can. An outlet of my everyday frustrations. (hehe)-
Both of those sides are lovely and light and a perfect accompaniment to grilled steak. YES, come on spring! I’m looking forward to grilling season. :)
Me too! We lit the grill on Easter and had this steak dinner. You’re in WA, right?
I am in Central Oregon!
Oh! Beautiful place, Central Oregon. :)
Ah Seana, these look like the most perfect sides to go with steak! Love, love, love sautéed mushrooms and mash! I’m often surprised by how expensive celery root is here in Australia, but as we near winter, this will be an absolute must… I’m bookmarking your recipe! Thanks, M
Celery root is so underrated and so delicious. I’m jealous that you seem to have gotten a head start on all of the wonderful seasonal eating that is just around the corner. Mushrooms are a favorite of mine too, but I’m loving this celery root. It’s a great substitute for me the way you made it because my husband can’t eat potatoes (allergy). This is perfect!