We can’t get very much at the farmers’ market except for root vegetables and mushrooms this time of year, so it’s nice to use the same old Dark Days veggies in new ways. You can definitely taste the celeriac puree in the polenta, but it’s still a new flavor, due to the cornmeal. The egg is optional, I suppose, but the yolk adds creaminess to the mushroom sauce. We use these nifty silicone Poach Pods for poaching eggs. We often make random leftovers (roasted veggies, sauteed greens, rice, whatever) into a quick meal by topping them with a poached egg.

Polenta with Celeriac, Mushrooms, and Egg
Serves 4

Ingredients:

Directions:

1. Heat a large pot of water to boiling. Add a large pinch of salt and the cubed celeriac. Boil the celeriac until very tender about 30 minutes. I got hungry and impatient and drained it too soon. Don’t be impatient. It will make your life much harder later.

   

2. While the celeriac is cooking, heat 3 cups of water in a second pot until boiling. Add a large pinch of salt. While whisking, slowly pour in the cornmeal. This will help avoid lumps. Our cornmeal was pretty lumpy (which I didn’t notice until I was pouring it in), but I just whisked away and crossed my fingers. By the time it was done, it was nice and smooth. Allow the polenta to boil for 15 minutes, whisking occasionally.

   

3. While your two pots are cooking, slice the shallots and mushrooms. Melt the butter in a sauté pan and add the shallots. Sauté the shallots over medium heat until translucent.
4. Add the mushrooms, salt, and oregano, and sauté until the mushrooms are tender, 5 to 10 minutes. Once they are done, turn off the stove, but leave the mushrooms in the pan. Our mushrooms were pretty dry, since we bought them a week ago and didn’t get around to cooking them until now. We added a little extra butter to compensate, but they looked pretty shriveled until we added the red wine later.

   

5. Once the celeriac is very soft, strain it and mash it very well. We used an immersion blender, but you could use a potato masher or a fork. We tried a blender, but there wasn’t enough to work well no matter how hard I tried. This lead to Erik telling me to take a time out. I wouldn’t recommend it.

   

   Add a little milk or water to make it mash better if you want to. Aim for a smooth puree similar to the cornmeal.

6. After the celeriac is mashed, turn the heat under the mushrooms to medium again. Add the wine and cook until much of the liquid is evaporated.

   

7. Once the cornmeal is cooked, stir it into the celeriac mash to finish the polenta.
8. To eat, put a mound of polenta on the plate, add the mushrooms, and top with the fried or poached egg. Since you won’t have used the full bottle of wine, pour yourself a glass and relax.