Fresh Tart

You might have passed right by celery root (also known as celeriac) at the store, thinking it looked anything but edible.  I admit, it freaked me out the first time I shopped for it, but I trusted the description I'd read (pleasantly mild celery taste, texture similar to a potato, overall effect of savory, delicious with cream and/or cheese) and went for it.

I've been very, very glad ever since.

Despite its gnarly appearance, celery root is quite easy to peel, revealing a pale green interior and a lovely, celery-meets-tarragon fragrance.  Slice it thin and layer it into a gratin.  Or chop and simmer with leeks to make this creamy, luscious soup.

In addition to being delicious, celery root just happens to be a very low carbohydrate vegetable, making it a lovely stand-in for potatoes if you're mindful of such things (I am).  I topped the soup two ways for the pics - above, with sliced scallions and crispy bacon; below, with a drizzle of walnut oil and toasted walnuts.  If you're thinking cheese could be happy here, you're so right...

Did you notice that this recipe provides one more option for using creme fraiche?  Given that it's 1) magical with eggs, 2) dreamy with fruit, 3) heavenly as a pan sauce, and now 4) divine swirled into soup, let's make 2011 the Year of Creme Fraiche!

Celery Root & Leek Soup
Serves 4 as a main course, 6 as an appetizer

3 Tbsp. butter
1 leek, pale green & white parts only, sliced thin
2 cloves garlic, minced
Kosher salt
2 celery roots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
a few gratings of fresh nutmeg
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
6 c. water or chicken broth
1/4-1/2 c. creme fraiche
freshly ground black pepper

garnish ideas:
crispy bacon & sliced scallions
toasted nuts & a drizzle of nut oil (i.e. hazelnut, walnut)
shredded Gruyere cheese

In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, melt butter.  Add leeks and garlic, with a light sprinkle of salt, and saute until leeks are becoming tender, about 8 minutes.  Add celery root, nutmeg, and dried thyme.  Stir in the water and 1 tsp. of salt (if using chicken broth, add less salt, to taste).  Bring soup to a simmer, then turn heat to low and cover.  Simmer for 30 minutes or until celery root is very tender.  Puree soup in batches in a blender, then stir back into the pot.  Stir in creme fraiche.  Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper.  Serve with your favorite garnishes.

OK, assuming that you used about 1/2 cup total of creme fraiche for Part I: Softly Scrambled Eggs and Part II: Sauteed Apple with Honey, you should be all set to finish off the container with this dish.  And if not - who cares?  This chicken is so obscenely delicious that it would totally be worth throwing away the rest of the container for!  Bonus: It's as easy as putting on lipstick, so tuck this in your back pocket for when your in-laws are in town and you want to impress.  (But really, just make it tonight.  So.  Good.)

I asked the kind butchers at Whole Foods to bone - but leave the skin on - four chicken breast halves for me.  All chicken breasts should have the skin on as far as I'm concerned - it's the best part and makes for a much more tender piece of meat, and if you don't want it, just toss it!  But I'm in the minority here, as I am on most things, so you'll have to either bone the breasts yourself or ask your butcher to do it for you.  Of course you could make this dish with boneless, skinless breasts but...you'd miss the skin!  Especially when it gets utterly, shatteringly crispy and golden brown, protecting the tender meat beneath.

The sauce is just lemon and creme fraiche.  And oh, the golden bits from the pan, very important.  Rich, creamy, addictively tangy - you can't screw up this dish and can't not adore it either.

The green beans are sadly the last of the season, at least here in Minnesota.  I boiled them until just-tender and tossed them with a little walnut oil, toasted walnuts, and mushrooms sauteed in butter with shallots.  It was all so pretty together.  I will miss good green beans.  Until next June...

The chicken?  We'll be eating it all winter!

Amanda Hesser's Lemon Chicken
Serves 4

1 1/2 Tbsp. butter
1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
4 whole chicken legs with thighs attached (I used skin-on, boneless chicken breast halves)
coarse sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
1/2 c. creme fraiche

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat.  After 3 minutes, add the butter and oil.  Season the chicken generously with salt and pepper.  Place the chicken, skin side down, in the skillet and brown well on both sides, turning once.

Transfer the skillet to the oven.  Bake for 15 minutes, or until the juices run clear when the chicken is pierced with a knife.

Return the skillet to the stove top.  Transfer the chicken to a platter and keep warm.  Remove all but 1 Tbsp. of fat from the skillet.  Place over medium heat, add the lemon juice, and stir to scrape up any pan drippings.  Simmer for 1 minute, then add the creme fraiche and lemon zest and stir until melted and bubbling.  If the sauce is too thick, add a few tablespoons of water.  Pour the sauce over the chicken and sprinkle with additional pepper.  Serve hot.

Happy Friday everyone!  Just in time for the weekend, here's another quick idea for using creme fraiche.  If you, like I, try to eat as little sugar as possible, then creme fraiche can be your new best friend.  Want to add the creaminess of ice cream to a bowl full of berries?  A small dollop of creme fraiche fits the bill in the loveliest way, adding the richness of ice cream for about 50 calories and no added sugar.

Or, if you're having a hard time putting your hands on good berries (there goes the season, sniff...), try this quick-n-lovely sauteed apple, one my favorite fall treats.  In 10 minutes your house will smell of cinnamon and your mouth will be full of soft warm apple, creamy and slightly sweet with a drizzle of honey (that's a jar of heavenly Ames Farm Dutch Clover in the background).

The creme fraiche melts over the apple slices, gah, so incredible. Top with a few chopped almonds for crunch.

Sauteed Apple with Honey & Creme Fraiche
Serves 1

1 tsp. butter
1 apple, cored and sliced thin
shakes of cinnamon
1 Tbsp. creme fraiche
honey (optional)

In a large non-stick skillet over medium-low heat, melt butter.  Add apple slices and a few shakes of cinnamon and stir to coat.  Cover the pan and cook the apples until nicely soft but not falling apart, stirring a few times, about 8 minutes.  Serve warm apple slices topped with creme fraiche and a drizzle honey, if using.

Do you cook with creme fraiche?  Non?  Oh, you should, you should, it's a breeze to use and makes everything it touches absolutely luscious.  Creme fraiche is technically French-style cultured cream, somewhat similar to sour cream, but easier to cook with because it can be whipped as well as boiled without curdling.

Even better, it's as lush as Angelina Jolie's lips, with a softly nutty flavor that beautifully elevates...eggs, for instance.

I'm going to focus on creme fraiche for a few days, to give you a reason to buy a small container and then use it all up.  I'm starting with scrambled eggs because you'll never make them without creme fraiche again.  (OK, you probably will, but you'll wish that you'd made them with creme fraiche.)

I am ridiculously picky about scrambled eggs.  I like them soft, but they repulse me if undercooked.  I've tried stirring cream cheese into them as they finish, but for my taste that takes the temperature down too far, because they also repulse me if they're not piping hot.

Annoying?  No!  Not if the scrambled eggs are made with a generous dollop of creme fraiche!  Beat it into the eggs with lots of chives, scramble slowly in a spot of butter, cook them until they're nicely done yet still soft.  Creamy, fluffy, lush scrambled eggs, every time.

The picture of my dog?  Gratuitous cuteness.  (He's getting a hair cut on Monday!)

Softly Scrambled Eggs with Chives & Creme Fraiche
Serves 1

1/2 Tbsp. butter
2 large, organic eggs
1 Tbsp. creme fraiche
1 Tbsp. minced chives
1/4 tsp. salt + more to finish
freshly ground black pepper

Put butter in a large nonstick skillet and set over medium low heat.  While the butter melts, in a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, creme fraiche, chives, salt, and a grind of black pepper until uniform.  When the butter is melted, stir in the egg mixture.  Slowly cook the eggs, stirring with a rubber spatula the whole time, until eggs are just set (if they're cooking too quickly, just pull the pan from the heat and continue stirring).  Serve immediately with a bit more salt & pepper.