Salt-Baked Celeriac

Served with chestnut purée, boozy preserved blackberries and freshly sliced chestnuts...

Try our ultimate intro to a proper feast with family and friends. Wrapping celeriac in a salt-based crust helps our hero veggie retain moisture and get a perfect seasoning - it really holds its own as a crowd-pleasing starter against some big hitting classics.

Ingredients
Serves 6

For the salt crust:

• 1.5kg plain flour
• 600g rock salt
• Small handful of fresh rosemary and thyme
• 3 x egg whites
• 850ml water
• 6 bay leaves
• 4 x celeriac

For the chestnut purée:

• 180g pack ready-to-eat chestnuts 
• Milk (enough to just cover the chestnuts in a medium saucepan)
• Smoked salt to season

For the boozy blackberries:

• 400g fresh blackberries
• Gin (enough to just cover the blackberries in a small Kilner or preserve jar)
• Sugar – around one part to the three parts of blackberries 

Method

Get ahead: make the boozy blackberries

Around 3 weeks in advance (longer if you can), tip the fruit into your Kilner or preserve jar and add gin until the liquid almost covers the berries. Add the sugar and gently stir to combine being very careful not to crush or break up the fruit. Leave to macerate, and shake the jar around once a week until ready to serve.

For the salt crust, celeriac and chestnut purée:

1. Using your hands, mix all the ingredients together into a smooth paste. You want the dough to come together and have a slight stickiness to it.
2. Take your celeriac and chop off the top and the end. Gently slice off the skin so you’re left with a ball of clean celeriac.
3. Coax your dough around the celeriac using your hands and thumbs to stretch it all the way around so it’s fully encased – you want around a 1cm-thick layer of dough covering the celeriac.
4. Place the ball into a deep roasting tray and probe the thickest part of the celeriac with a spike, where you can insert an oven probe.
5. Put the celeriac into the oven at 186°C and cook for about 1½ hours, or until the core reaches 86°C on the oven probe.
6. While the celeriac bakes, make the chestnut purée. Put a handful of the chestnuts aside (to use as a garnish later) and tip the rest into a saucepan and cover with the milk.
7. Gently bring the pan up to a simmer until the chestnuts slightly soften (around 15 minutes).
8. Take them off the heat and tip the chestnuts into a blender, with a small splash of the milk. You can always add more milk later if the purée is too thick, but it should be able to hold its own without being too wet.
9. Blend until smooth, and sprinkle in the smoked salt to season, adding to taste. Fold altogether to combine and leave aside until ready to serve.
10. Remove the celeriac ball from the oven – the crust should be golden brown and solid to touch. Leave to rest to allow the celeriac to continue to steam and absorb the salt seasoning.
11. Once cool, remove the celeriac from the tin (use a spoon or a spatula, as it will be stuck to the surface).
12. Crack the crust using the back of a sharp knife and cut down the middle of the celeriac (just the depth of the crust) to release the celeriac from the salt-baked dough.
13. Carefully peel a thin outer layer of the celeriac using a knife, so you have a clean ball once again. 
    Cut the celeriac into 1-inch chunks.
14. To serve, spread the chestnut purée over the bottom of the plate and pile the celeriac slices on top. Spoon out a handful of the gin-soaked blackberries from the jar and sprinkle over the celeriac.
15. Thinly slice the reserved chestnuts and add a generous few of these over the plate. Garnish with some fresh greenery from the garden for a pop of colour. 

Watch our Group Head Chef Andy make this showstopping starter in action, over on our YouTube series: PIG Tales.