Celery root reminds me of France and its Celeri Rémoulade…which is raw shredded celery root salad with mayonnaise. Not that I particularly like mayonnaise on salad but I love celery root flavor.

A while ago, my Japanese neighbor introduced me to this Japanese kind of sweet potato called Okinawan potato; it has such a beautiful vibrant purple color. She was telling me about all the wonderful nutrient packed in it and how they eat it in Japan, so it did not take me long to go and buy some. I love Japanese cuisine, and I was curious to taste it especially that it has many antioxidants, one of which gives it its purple color, is called anthocyanin.

In general I don’t eat much potatoes, I find them quite boring, but this one is really different from all the other kinds of sweet potatoes I tasted and I will explore its use further.

Now what do you do with a celery root and Okinawan potato? You can do many things but the cold weather made me decide on a soup.

The small cubes of potatoes and celery mixed to the crayfish add some pleasant texture to the soup, so that part is not optional. You can also use shrimps instead of crayfish.

This is a lovely soup, delicate yet fragrant with lots of character, so definitely a soup that I will make again.

Ingredients for 4

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 yellow onion chopped
• 2 celery roots (medium size) peeled and diced + 1 slice cut crosswise in small cubes (1/3 inch) to set aside
• 1 medium size Okinawan potato, peeled and diced + 2 slices cut crosswise in small cubes (1/3 inch) to set aside
• 1 leek, roughly chopped
• vegetable broth (enough to cover the vegetables
• 1 .2 cups cooked crayfish
• lemon oil
• 1 tbs parsley, chopped
• salt and pepper

Preparation

In a large pot, heat olive oil and add onion. Let them cook until fragrant and translucent. Add all vegetables except for the slice of celery cut in small cubes and the two slices of potatoes cut in small cubes.

Add enough broth to cover the vegetables.

Let cook the soup until all the vegetables are tender. Adjust with salt and pepper.

In a small pan, heat olive oil and saute the small cubes of potatoes and celery root until golden brown outside and soft inside. Add crayfish and saute for a few minutes. Remove from heat and add parsley. Adjust with salt and pepper.

When the soup is cooked. Blend using a hand blender, or mixer.

Divide in plates, and add 1 tbs of crayfish mixture and drizzle with lemon oil. Serve hot

I am back in the US and I did not post anything while in France, simply because I had no time to cook – I think I prepared lunch for my parents twice, the rest of my stay my mom cooked and we had guests so no time to shot anything…and to be honest, I had no motivation to cook. What a shame!!!! I always think, I will have time to shot the old town, la vieille ville or our gorgeous Place Stanislas (the most beautiful square in Europe) painted in gold, or our beautiful architecture. But no, I get there and I get caught in family stuff, my life changes completely, and this time I even left my camera in the suitcase! Oh well, c’est comme ca, et tant pis!

These purses are made with feuilles de brick (also called brick dough or brick pastry in the US) that I bought  while I was in France (they’re more popular over there than filo dough) , they’re mainly used in middle eastern cuisine and really hard to find in the US, so far I have not found yet a store that carry them, except Amazon, but they’re too expensive. I paid only 0.90 Euros for a pack of 10. You can substitute filo dough sheets, but I prefer the texture of feuilles de brick, they’re more resistant and not as fragile.

Aumonières were an old type of purse that people use to carry on their belt so that no one would steal the money. In the food world they refer to any dough (crêpe, filo dough, feuilles de brick) filled with anything, it can be fish, vegetables, meat, etc.. basically it’s a eatable purse filled with food instead of money.

Sometimes I like to substitute crème fraîche with fromage blanc. If you are using fromage blanc instead of the heavy cream for the sauce, you won’t be able to boil it, not cook it, so you’ll have a cold sauce instead of hot. In this case, a hot sauce goes much better with the whole dish since the purses are hot.

You can use shrimps or scallops instead of crayfish, and use your creativity for the filling, it’s all about what you like!

Ingredients for 4 people

• 8 feuilles de brick
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 leek, chopped
• 1/2 lb crayfish tales (already cooked)
• about 16 cherry tomatoes, cut in halves
• 2 tsp sesame seeds
• salt and pepper

For the sauce

• Crème fraîche or fromage blanc
• Curry to taste
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• Salt and pepper

Preparation

Heat olive oil in a pan. Add leeks and cook until tender. Adjust with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Cut two circles of about 2.5 inches 4 brick sheets. Then take a whole sheet, brush the surface with olive oil, and place two of the small circles in the middle. Divide the leeks in the center of these circles, add six tomato halves on top of the leeks and top it off with the crayfish, Sprinkle with sesame seeds, salt and pepper. Proceed the same way for the other purses.

Close the purses by bringing the sides to the front forming a purse. Tie it up with cooking thread. Bake in a pre heated oven at 370 F for about 15 minutes, make sure the purses don’t burn or become too dark.

For the sauce, bring the cream, lemon juice and curry to a light boil, then add salt and pepper.

Serve the purses hot with the sauce on the side.

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