Celeriac and celery salad

• serves

  4

• cook

  1 hour

Ingredients

Celery salsa verde:

1 head of celery, finely chopped

½ bunch of flat-leaf (Italian) parsley, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

8 anchovy fillets

120g (¾ cup) salted capers, soaked for 2 hours, then rinsed and squeezed dry

extra-virgin olive oil

salt and ground black pepper, to taste

For serving:

1 head of celeriac

1 lemon, squeezed

a pinch of salt

about 100g piece of young pecorino cheese (it needs to be soft enough to crumble)

4 soft-boiled eggs, halved

Instructions

Remove all of the celery leaves from the celery. Finely chop 2 stalks of celery, the celery leaves, parsley, garlic, anchovies and capers (use a food processor, if you prefer).

Combine all of your ingredients in a bowl and stir in enough extra-virgin olive oil to form a paste. Taste your salsa verde and adjust the seasoning accordingly but just keep in mind that the salt from the capers and anchovies will develop more as it sits so don't add too much salt.

To assemble the salad, peel your celeriac and slice about 2mm thick, then carefully cut the slices into thin batons, but not too thin. Place the celeriac in a bowl, squeeze over the lemon juice and sprinkle with salt and combine really well, then let this sit for a couple of minutes.

Now add half your salsa verde and combine really well. Present the salad on a platter and, to finish, crumble over your pecorino cheese and top with your halved eggs.

As an alternative, this salad can be served warm. Simply blanch the celeriac in boiling salted water for no more than 10–15 seconds so the pieces still retain their crunch and then dress in the salsa verde.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.