Celeriac attack:You need to be an optimist to grow celeriac. The seed is so tiny that it's almost invisible. It needs warmth to germinate, and if you take your eye off it for a moment, especially during a dry spell, it will run to flower.
Most years, I watch my crop like an anxious parent, and with copious watering, feeding and hoeing, I usually end up with knobbly, celery-flavoured roots about the size of a tennis ball. This year's crop, however, tends more towards the golf-ball end of the scale. After I've cut the roots off and peeled
it, there's not much left, but it's all the more precious for that.
You can roast it, boil it and mash it, or turn it into chips, but my favourite approach is to cut the flesh into julienne strips and toss them with mayonnaise, mustard and lemon juice. Its fragrance and crunch, especially when combined with charcuteries, always bring me back to my first encounter with celeriac remoulade in the old Restaurant Chartier in Montmartre. It's one of the few vegetables that is at its very best right now. Tom Doorley.
Try before you buy
The most pristine appliance in my kitchen is a built-in steam oven. It looks great, but it's rarely used. Not surprising, as it needs to be manually filled with water from a jug, makes an awful noise when it's in use, and afterwards has to be thoroughly dried with a mountain of paper towels, otherwise the trays go mouldy. A mistake, in other words, and an expensive one. Which is why the "try before you buy" initiative at Drumms kitchen appliance showrooms at 15 Western Industrial Estate on Naas Road, Dublin 12, is such a great idea. For €70 (refundable on purchase) you can put the American Viking and German Küppersbusch cookers, ranges and rangetops to the test, under the guidance of in-house chef Aine Maguire, in a two- to three-hour demonstration. See www.drumms.ie (01-4604355). Marie-Claire Digby.