Lately, though, dairy has been more unfriendly than usual to my gut so we haven't made this recently. Definitely time to make the sauce again, though, because it is soooo good.
Many friends are aware that Kent and I follow a strictly (or almost strictly) no-sugar-no-grains approach to food. Kent follows more of a strictly Paleo diet that I do but at home you won't find one speck of rice, wheat, etc, in our cupboard. We allow ourselves to wander off the reservation, so to speak, under certain circumstances - say, when waffles are on offer at Chris & Irene's, or for a tasting menu at fancy-pants starred restaurant. Let's be clear: we don't have allergies. I have a few sensitivities, and we have made lifestyle choices - and we choose to ignore them when confronted with something like Michel Roux's menu a couple of weeks ago because we can afford, and choose, to not substitute ingredients.
This is all just to say: we have made choices, and pasta-in-it's-gorgeous-semolina-goodness has been absolutely verboten. I love pasta in all it's forms. Flat, ruffled, stuffed. And I've found a substitute for flat thanks to three special people. Long-ish story. Settle in, chaps.
Special Person #1: Mom, who introduced me to zucchini-noodle lasagne during her visit last year and started me on this adventure of reintroducing ragu back into our world. Slicing up zucchini is a great option! For my taste, it has to be roasted first to dry it out a bit. We have such a tiny oven that this really does take several rounds of roasting. The zucchini shrivels up so you have to do quite a lot to get the right amount for a proper lasagne.
Special Person #2: TS, a lovely woman who was my first real friend here in London, introduced me to a few of her favorite places in Camden. One of them was a vegetable shop, Parkway Produce (Parkway Greens? I can never see the writing on the awning), has 95% fresh produce and 5% other. There are veg I've never laid eyes on in this place. They supply local Camden restaurants with goods. They are constantly moving, busy, boxing up produce, unboxing produce. Best prices on unwaxed lemons in town. Best looking lemons in town. Best lemons in town. Anyway, TS told me about celeriac. Whaaaa? I've never used it. She gasped and said "Oh, you MUST try it. Such a lovely mild flavor. Mash it or slice it into matchsticks and put it into salad." (Note: right across the street from The Tiniest Whole Foods Ever)
Special Person #3: Mark Sisson, of Mark's Daily Apple. A few days after this discovery of Parkway Produce, I was reading on Mark's website about his version of lasagne, where he uses celeriac (celery root).
Hm. This obviously got me thinking about how I could change up my lasagne. I make my own bolognese sauce for it, a riff on two sauces in Stanley Tucci's family cookbook, so I'm already spending a great deal of time on that. I didn't like how much more time the zucchini takes to roast. Celeriac, eh? Great big monster of an ugly root. You have to carve the outside off. It's very firm and a little difficult to slice, but easier than a butternut squash. Mark parboils 1/8" slices in batches of four or so - whatever fits in the pan, so that's what I did. Worked great! Made BEAUTIFUL if somewhat wonky "noodles" for lasagne. I did a crappy cutting job - very uneven - but DH loved it. It has just the right consistency - firm enough to layer but soft enough to cut through with a fork. But oh mercy standing in front of the stove parboiling slices of celeriac...MANY slices of celeriac...in my tiny galley kitchen...not my favorite thing to do. But I did it a few times because...lasagne! Then I read somewhere about steaming it. Maybe on the BBC food website. Maybe somewhere else.
Okay, what the heck, I try that.
Success! I can steam half a head of celeriac slices at a time! Woohoo! And, I can steam another set of slices to freeze for next time. Oh, yes by the way, it freezes lovely. Thaw it in the fridge for a day, use it in lasagne that night or the next day. Yummy.
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| Fine, it isn't the best photo but it's in a proper big American Pyrex casserole dish, you know what I'm talking about. |
Then Kent ponders: "I wonder if we can spiralize it and use it as...spaghetti?" Well, shit yes that actually works too. Steam a head of spiralized celeriac for about 9 minutes, drain it, salt it, cover it with sauce and sprinkle with parmesan. It works. You could just boil them in salted water, too, and it would work just fine. I've read that it's good to add a little lemon juice to prevent it from going brown (might be for storage in fridge) but that hasn't been a problem for me. That spiralizer we bought two years ago has finally come in handy.
There is almost nothing better than a big plate of spaghetti with homemade bolognese and sprinkled with fresh parmesan cheese after a run (you knew I had to mention that somewhere, right?) - made with ingredients that are consistent with our dietary choices.
Life is good.
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