I got home from work on Saturday to find my roommate, Andrea, putting away groceries.

She handed me a vegetable the size of a softball, heavy, with tangled roots along the bottom. It was beige, and it reminded me of the scary talking ginger root from Pan’s Labyrinth.

Celery root | Pic by www.wendyvanwagner.com

“Guess what this is,” she said to me. I smelled it. Some kind of potato? A new squash? All those roots confused me, and though I detected an earthy, fresh smell, I couldn’t begin to guess what I held.

Andrea smiled. “Celery root,” she said.

Celery root, or celeriac, is a root vegetable, often bulbous, with a tangled mess of roots. It has a light celery taste that turns nutty when cooked. It can be consumed raw or cooked, and the skin is usually cut away with a knife rather than peeled as it is quite thick and rough.

For this week’s dish, I used a Martha Stewart recipe for Mashed Potatoes and Celeriac with Wild Mushrooms. The result was a hearty, delicious blend of mashed potatoes, the likes of which I’ve never quite pulled off. This was one of those dishes that make you clean your plate, settle back in your chair, and bask in the glow of satisfaction. It’s a dish to seduce lovers, impress parents, and comfort the downtrodden and weary. (Yeah, it was that good.)

Mashed Potatoes and Celeriac with Wild Mushrooms

Serves 8 to 10

7 medium Yukon Gold, or Idaho potatoes (about 3 1/2 pounds)

2 tablespoons salt

2 medium heads celeriac peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons homemade chicken stock or low-sodium canned chicken broth (I used Swanson)

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 cup milk

Potatoes staying warm | Pic by Andrea Nolan

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 pound assorted wild mushrooms, trimmed and cut into 3/4-inch pieces (I used CSA white button mushrooms)

4 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary

1/4 cup dry sherry (or dry white wine)

4 teaspoons snipped chives

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Place potatoes in a medium stockpot, cover with water, and add 1 tablespoon salt; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium high, and boil gently until potatoes are tender, about 45 minutes. Drain potatoes in a colander. When cool enough to handle, peel potatoes, and pass the flesh through a potato ricer into a large metal bowl. (If you’re like me and don’t have a potato ricer, an electric hand mixer will do.) Cover with aluminum foil, and place over a pot of simmering water.

2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine celeriac, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon chicken stock, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Transfer to a shallow baking pan, and roast until celeriac is browned and tender, about 35 minutes. Remove from oven, and stir celeriac into potatoes. Cover bowl of potatoes again.

3. In a small saucepan, combine cream, milk, and 4 tablespoons butter; warm over medium-high heat until butter melts and milk just comes to a boil, about 2 minutes. Stir into the potato-and-celeriac mixture along with 2 tablespoons salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cover bowl again.

4. In a large skillet, heat remaining tablespoon olive oil and remaining 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Add the sturdiest mushrooms to skillet first. Saute, stirring frequently, until mushrooms are lightly browned, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add remaining mushrooms, 3 teaspoons rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook until mushrooms are tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Add sherry and remaining 2 tablespoons stock, and cook until mushrooms absorb the liquid, 2 to 3 minutes.

The full ensemble | Pic by Andrea Nolan

5. Transfer potatoes and celeriac to a serving dish, and cover with mushrooms. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons rosemary, and serve immediately.

I’m a girl who loves her salt. I love it when salt comes in big flakes or a larger grind of sea salt; I get excited about salt I can chew, salt I can crunch. But I’ll tell you right now: this dish was really salty.

When I make this dish again (and I will make it again), I’m going to cut the salt in step 3 to one tablespoon and go from there, tweaking it until I get the taste right. I also didn’t have sherry, so I used sauvignon blanc, which that turned out nice. I also kept the mushrooms on the side; they taste delicious and add a new complexity to the potatoes, but I like to make the mushrooms an option rather than an obligation. Mushrooms should be chosen, not forced.

I served this dish with Andrea’s roast chicken with vegetables and the lefsa (a Norwegian flat bread) she made over Christmas. Though that’s already a pretty starchy meal, I recommend serving some good bread for sopping up mushrooms and potatoes. Comfort food like this isn’t about counting carbs; it’s about pure enjoyment.

Eat well, CSAcationers, and take care.