Salt baked celeriac: where rustic meets refined

Ingredients (serves 4)

• For the salt baked celeriac:
• 1 x large celeriac 
• 500g plain flour 
• 150g fine sea salt 

• For the mushroom stock:
• 1kg button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced 
• 2 tbsp olive oil 
• 30g dried porcini/mixed mushrooms, soaked 
• 1 onion, sliced 
• ½ head of garlic, cut in half 
• 2 bay leaves, torn 
• Few thyme sprigs 
• 2 tbsp sherry vinegar 
• 1 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce 

• For the mushroom foam:
• 100ml reduced mushroom stock 
• 50ml unsweetened soy milk 

• For the smoked emulsion:
• 100ml unsweetened soy milk 
• 1 tsp English mustard 
• 1 tbsp lemon juice, extra to adjust 
• 180g sunflower oil 
• 50g smoked oil 
• Salt and White pepper 

• For the almond migas:
• 50g sourdough 
• 40g smoked almonds 
• 50g firm flora butter  (vegan)

• For the pickled girolles: 
• 50g girolles, cleaned
• 180ml Moscatel vinegar 
• 120g caster Sugar 
• 1 tsp maldon sea salt 
• 60ml Water 

• To Serve:
• 100g Hen of the wood mushrooms, cleaned
• Micro nasturtium leaves (or other micro herbs)

Method

1. For the salt baked celeriac, preheat oven to 220°C. 
2. Make the salt dough by mixing the salt and flour together, gradually add the water and mix until you have a firm dough. You may not need all the water. 
3. Roll the dough until it is large enough to fully cover the celeriac. Wrap the dough around the vegetable, ensuring it is completely encased. 
4. Bake on a tray in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 180˚C and continue to cook for a further 30 – 60 minutes or until a metal skewer placed into the centre of the celeriac indicates the vegetable is just tender all the way through. 
5. Make the pickle by adding everything into a small saucepan, bring to a simmer to dissolve the sugar and then pour the pickle over the cleaned mushrooms. Allow to pickle for 2 hours. 
6. To make the mushroom stock, sauté the mushrooms until a deep golden color has been achieved. Add in the onion and garlic and saute for a few minutes before deglazing the pan with the sherry vinegar. Add in the rest of the ingredients, cover with water and cook for approximately 2 hours.  
7. For the emulsion, ensure the oil and milk are at room temperature, to minimize the potential of the mayonnaise splitting. 
8. Put the soy milk, mustard, lemon juice and both oils into the jug of a stick blender and blitz until a thick, smooth and uniform consistency has been achieved. 
9. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt, white pepper and lemon juice as needed. 
10. To make the migas, place the flora into a saucepan over a high heat to form a beurre noisette. When the butter begins to caramelize add in the sourdough and almonds, cooking until they become golden in colour. 
11. Drain off the mixture over a sieve and allow to cool before crushing into a course crumb using a pestal and mortar or alternatively roughly chop through the mixture. 
12. Remove the celeriac from the oven, allow to sit until cool enough to handle and break open the crust. Once released from the crust, allow to sit and cool before trimming and portioning. 
13. Strain the mushroom stock through a j cloth lined chinoise and reduce over a high heat until a good depth of flavor has developed. Adjust the flavor and seasoning with salt and vegan Worcestershire. 
14. To portion the celeriac, peel away the skin and trim off the root end. Carefully cut the celeriac into rectangular blocks of approximately 5cm by 8cm and 3cm thick. 
15. Preheat a chargrill until hot. Oil and season the salt baked celeriac and chargrill on both sides to achieve a lattice bar mark.  
16. To finish, pan fry the hen of the wood mushrooms for 2-3 minutes in the beurre noisette and drain off onto white paper before serving. Add the soy milk to the reduced mushroom stock, and heat until just steaming (approximately 65 degrees Celsius) and using a stick blender to aerate and create a light foam/froth.