Don't be intimidated by this odd-looking vegetable. Prepping celery root (or celeriac) is straightforward and worth the effort, since it makes up for in taste what it lacks in beauty.
Note: Keep in mind that the celery root's flesh discolors when exposed to oxygen -- so mix together a little vinegar or lemon juice and water in a bowl to hold the prepped celery root in as you work.
First, slice the root end off so that the entire bulb has a steady base. Next, hold the stem end of the bulb and slice the skin away, leaving as much of the flesh intact as possible.
Once the tough skin is fully removed, just cut off the top stem end and cut it in half so it is more manageable.
Now the celery root can be prepped for cooking in the same way you would potatoes, turnips, rutabagas and other root vegetables.
When sliced very thin using a mandoline, celery root is perfectly edible raw.
Dress raw celeriac as you would any salad.
First, trim the ends from the broccoli raab stems.
Next, slice on the bias. Bias cuts give each piece a larger surface area for more even cooking.
Cut leaves straight across.
One-inch pieces are the perfect size for most recipes.
Sauerkraut is easy to make at home; it mostly requires cabbage, salt and time.
First, clean and core the cabbage.
Next, finely shred the cabbage to about the thickness of a nickel.
The key to good sauerkraut is controlled fermentation; this is acheived by cool temperatures and lactic acid-loving bacteria. Your hands and the container need to be immaculately clean so that the cabbage does not pick up bacteria that may rot it instead of fermenting.
A large, enameled stockpot is a good place to make sauerkraut should you lack a wooden barrel or a piece of glazed crockery. The heavy metal will help to keep the temperature steady and the enamel will prevent the salt and lactic-acid brine from reacting with the metal. Under no circumstances should you use a bare metal pot to make sauerkraut, as the acidic brine would leach metals out into the cabbage.
After thoroughly coating the shredded cabbage with salt and layering it into the crock of your choice, make sure that there is enough brine covering the cabbage. (This may take an hour or so for the liquid to leach out of the leaves and cover the future sauerkraut.) A little extra brine may be made from boiling water and salt, cooled and then added to the shredded cabbage before covering the whole assembly with plastic wrap and a heavy plate. The plate will serve to keep the mixture submerged so that fermentation is undisturbed.
After a few weeks of fermenting at 50F, the finished sauerkraut is a pale, creamy color and full of rich, briny flavor. It is recommended that sauerkraut is rinsed and drained before use to control the salt levels in the dish.
Onion slices are versatile. In quick-cooking dishes, they stay distinct enough from the other ingredients that they don't permeate every bite as diced onions would. In longer-cooking dishes, they have enough surface area to turn soft and brown, but their natural shape and length keeps them intact.
To make contoured half-round slices, first cut the onion in half through the root.
Next, slice away the both ends of each half and pull away the onion's skin. Since the ends hold the slices together, cutting them off frees the slices to fall into individual pieces.
Starting on one side of the onion with the knife at an angle, make slices as thick or thin as you like.
Rotate the knife around the contour of the onion, bring it closer to perpendicular to the cutting board as you go.
