Chilled Celery Root in Mustard Sauce (Page 141)

RECIPE #884

• Date: Wednesday, December 3, 2008 -- 9pm
• Location: Bloomington, IN
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Recipe Rating: B-
  

Since the last celery-in-mustard dish I made from The Book was such a dud, I figured I might as well get this one out of the way too while I was at it. This one was definitely better. And easier to make. So in any celery-in-mustard contest, this would certainly beat that other recipe. Well, technically I guess it's not clear we would be able to enter this recipe in such a contest because indeed this recipe is made from celery root, rather than celery. But anyway... The idea here was simple. I cut some celery root into matchsticks, tossed them with salt and lemon and let them sit in the fridge for an hour. Then I drained them and dressed them in a mixture of mustard, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, sugar, pepper, and olive oil. I let the celery root sticks marinate for an hour, then served them topped with chopped chives. Overall, it wasn't bad. The celery root had a nice crispy texture to it, and the flavor of the dressing complemented it well. I still am not big on celery-themed dishes, and the celery flavor was indeed too much for me. But I enjoyed the first few bites of this that I ate. I wouldn't make it again, but it was perfectly fine. If you love the flavor of celery, you are sure to love this. It has all the flavor of celery without the textural problems!

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You can tell that I have reached a point of end-of-semester fatigue because today I wore jeans to teach my classes! (*gasp*) I usually make a point of wearing either nice pants or a skirt/dress when I teach undergraduates. I am definitely in the minority on this one. Most math profs wear jeans and an old t-shirt nine days out of ten. But I think since I am so young, and a woman, it helps my students see me as a mathematical authority if I at least dress differently than they do. It's a funny thing actually. When I go to visit another university and give an invited talk in their research seminar, I feel totally fine about wearing blue jeans. But lecturing to a room of 80 undergraduates, I wear dress pants. One day last fall it was raining and I was tired, so I wore tennis shoes instead of my usual high heels, or nice flats. Within five minutes of arriving in my classroom one of my students called me out on it: "Why are you wearing tennis shoes? You never wear tennis shoes." I was shocked that they notice that kind of thing.

In any event, today I was tired, and knew that I had a long day ahead of me. I couldn't resist the temptation to wear jeans. So I put on some nice boots and a nice sweater and figured I looked professional enough. I also think it is late enough in the semester that most of my students have decided to take me seriously. It's a sign though that my resolve is wearing down and I am ready for the semester to be over!