When my inbox is multi-paged, the bills are piling up, there’s drama at work, or when I’ve just had one of those days, you can find me out in the garden with my big girl boots on, just getting dirty and feeling the feelings. Later on, you’ll find me making a garden keeper’s pie ;)
I planted a lot of things this year, all successful in some way or another. I still have some greens out there, but I saved the pulling of my absolute favourite vegetable for when the Fall was certifiably cool. The celery roots. The ones that look like baby aliens, but taste like absolute heaven. Creamy textured, sweet, kinda grassy like parsley, and celery-like.
But mine were so small! Nothing at all like those big, knubby, market ones. Lots of green leafy stalks and tangled up roots full of dirt, ie lots of bits to cut around before you had any real food. My dad advised that I put them in a low spot of the garden for maximal water absorption and then further explained why they can be a bit pricy: they have to take up so much real estate and so much water for so long! Next year I’ll get it right. In the meantime, I managed to scrounge up just enough for two dinners’ worth.
One night I roasted some rough dices with other roots and squash, served it with a spicy gingered quinoa pilaf and a wispy knot of kale, apple and fennel slaw on top. And the other, I served clouds of puréed celery root on top of these little pies–garden keeper’s pies as I’m calling them. I made some small dices of beets, carrots and butternut squash and slowly cooked them down with black lentils, vegetable stock, garlic, and rosemary. Small additions of balsamic vinegar and tamari round the flavours out.
I know all of my American pals are coming up on Thanksgiving, so I wanted to offer up a main course option for the vegetable lovers. Side dishes can be a vegan/vegetarian’s closest pal at the holiday table, but a thoughtful main can make the heart glow just a bit fonder. For more holiday inspiration, check out this roundup right here.
Garden Keeper’s Pie with Beets, Lentils & Creamy Celery Root Mash
Ingredients
FILLING:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cooking onion, diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 sprig of rosemary, leaves minced
- 4 sprigs of thyme, leaves removed and divided
- pinch of chili flakes, optional
- 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
- 5 cups-worth of small diced root or tuber vegetables or squash (I used a mix of butternut squash, carrots & beets)
- ⅓ cup black or french lentils, rinsed
- 2 ½ cups vegetable stock
- 1 teaspoon tamari soy sauce
- sea salt, to taste
- ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 teaspoons arrowroot powder
- 1 tablespoon cold filtered water
CELERY ROOT MASH:
- 3 cups peeled and diced celery root
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil, plus extra
- ¼ cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
Equipment
Notes
- These are rough measures, but this isn’t a fussy endeavour by any means. You’re just making one big sauté, thickening it with arrowroot, topping it with a rustic mash and baking it until the whole thing bubbles and browns.
- Some cooked beans would fill in nicely for the lentils. Just make sure you throw them in closer to the end of the cooking process.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly oil 4 ramekins/cocottes/mini gratin dishes with at least 8 oz/1 cup capacity. Place dishes on a sheet pan and set aside.
- For the filling, heat the 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the diced onion and sauté until very, very soft, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the minced garlic, rosemary, thyme, and chili flakes (if using) to the pot and stir. Sauté until the garlic is very fragrant, about 45 seconds. Add the balsamic vinegar and stir. Add the 5 cups of diced vegetables and the lentils to the pot and stir to coat everything in the oil. Season heartily with salt and pepper. Sauté the vegetables and lentils another two minutes or so, stirring often.
- Add the vegetable stock and tamari and stir. The liquid should cover all the vegetables and lentils nicely, by about a half inch. Bring the mixture to a boil and then simmer until the vegetables are tender and the lentils are just soft, about 45 minutes. It helps if you place a lid on top of the pot slightly askew, leaving a little gap for air to escape.
- When the filling is done, in a small bowl mix together the arrowroot powder and cold water. Scrape this slurry into the pot with the filling and stir to mix it in. Remove the pot from the heat.
- For the celery root mash, place the diced celery root and garlic cloves in a medium saucepan. Cover the vegetables with cold water/vegetable stock if you like, and then place the pot over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil and then simmer until the celery root pieces are tender, about 15 minutes.
- Drain the celery root and garlic, and place it in a food processor fitted with the “S” blade. Pulse the vegetables a couple times to get them moving. Add the olive oil, unsweetened almond milk, and some salt and pepper. Run the motor on high until you have a cream, homogenous mixture. Check it for seasoning and adjust if necessary.
- Divide the filling amongst the 4 oiled dishes. Then, divide the celery root mash among the tops of the 4 dishes, smoothing it out with a butter knife or spatula. Drizzle a bit of olive oil on top of each pie and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and thyme leaves. Place the assembled pies back on the baking sheet and slide into the oven. Bake the pies until the filling is bubbling and the tops are very lightly browned, about 20 minutes.
I love the vivid red color of these pies! It gives me another reason to try and incorporate more lentils into my cooking. One of my favorite holiday recipes is Sweet Apple Dumpling Squash stuffed with wild rice, cranberries and almonds.
My favorite holiday dish is some combination of roasted vegetables, some roots, some brussels sprouts, with a hint of maple syrup and chestnuts.
love my maple walnut cranberry sauce… why don’t i make it more???????
This entire post is just too beautiful and your words about gardening resonate so deeply with me. I’m dying to try this recipe, though unfortunately I’ve never been able to find celery root! I’m definitely going to keep my eyes peeled now.
I think I’m drooling over that cutting board just as much as the food photos! So stunning. :)
Growing up my favorite holiday dish was always the cranberry sauce my grandmother made. I’ve also always been particularly fond of any sort of sweet potato/rutabaga mash, or stuffed pumpkin.
My new fav is roasted carrots tossed in a walnut pesto as a side. I had it at a restaurant in Brooklyn and will be making it for American Thanksgiving and Christmas!!!!
So many holiday favorites…roasted smashed fingerling potatoes, sweet potato biscuits, cranberry /ginger relish, lentil/nut loaf, broccoli casserole, white bean casserole, I could go on and on, but actually, my most favorite part is when you get to the bottom of your plate and you have little bits of each dish all mixed together…yum! Love your blog and thanks so much for the chance to win.
This looks delicious! I love surprising everyone with roasted brussel sprouts, i’ve turned many people onto loving them! :)
I love the pumpkin pie with coffee after Thanksgiving dinner. For me, it’s the coziest moment of the whole season.
this is really pretty…my favorite is a really deep molasses gingery bread with nuts and dried fruit…spicy and warming for the winter.
thanks for your posts…love to keep reading your insights.
I always have the absolute best of intentions every year to get a garden going, perhaps when we get into a house with a proper yard, I’ll make that transition! For me, Thanksgiving is alllll about the mashed potatoes. Although, after taking one look at this, I’m ready to dive into that celery root mash : )
My favorite holiday food is grean bean casserole with crispy shallots. I could probably eat a whole baking dish of that for dinner.
Homemade cornbread stuffing is by far my favorite. Can’t have a winter holiday without it!
I like stuffing!
I would pay to have a small garden to plant my favorite veggies. Maybe one day, who knows :)
This variation with the celery root instead of traditional potato layer seems flavorful and healthier ^_^
My favorite holiday dish is a Brussels sprouts and pomegranate salad drizzled with a nut oil like pistachio or walnut. I crave “greenery” after all the heavy holiday eating during the silly season. My salad seems like a fine intro course for the pie you’ve presented here. Lots of veggie goodness! Now I wonder what to make for dessert…
I have so many holiday favorites, but I always have to make Spritz cookiies. I already have one batch in the freezer of green Christmas trees. Next – red poinsettias.
Thanks! I love stuffing and mashed taters. And Platte County pie.
Homemade cranberry sauce is my favorite but I only make it for the holidays!
One day, when I grow up, I wanna be a gardener just like YOU! I can’t wait to have a little piece of land to mull over and nourish because I am in desperate need of some stillness {fact}.
You know what, my favorite holiday dish is just straight up rustic mashed potatoes with or without a little gravy but definitely with a good amount of salt and black pepper. This McClure board is a beaut! xo
Favorite holiday dish? So hard to pick! I’m going with a butternut squash, white beans, kale, and cranberries casserole. No sugar for the berries; I love their super tart bite against the sweet squash. But this pie! My family *might* be getting a little sick of the squash and white beans; this looks like a great alternative.
eeee!! these are the cutest! and i love that shot of your kitchen sink, the way the light falls on all of those little tomatoes. so pretty!!!
errrmmm favorite holiday dish… anything with marzipan :)
I love the hazelnut biscotti my mom makes for christmas morning!
A beautifully written post about gardening and life. Before living in Canada my favourite holiday dish was brown bread (better known here as soda bread!) ice cream that my mother makes just for Christmas which I will get to have this Christmas for the first time in five years! I could make it myself but its not quite the same experience. Pumpkin pie has become a new favourite though…..
First of all, LOVE UR BLOG!
Then, I L.O.V.E. gardening and dream of one day having a small house on a great big land so i can have a great big garden and grow many/most of my produce! I studied in horticulture but have since moved back to the city (Montreal, QC…Can u tell i’m mostly french?) and moved from appartment to appartment, never long enough to really grow even balcony tomatoes or what-not. But now i recently moved to a nice little appartment just outiside the city and feel like i can stay here a while! So can’t wait for spring to start my seedlings and grow a few things in the summer! But for now i’ll just enjoy whatever fall and winter has to give!
Wich brings me to Thanksgiving/Holiday favorites! Allthough i LOVE stuffing (vegan of course) and sweet potato mash w/ maple sirup and pecans (YUM!), my FAVE of all is the simplest of all, potato salad. But not any potato salad…My dad’s potato salad cuz he makes it like my russian grandma used to make. It’s super simple with an oil/vinegar dressing and green onions. But what makes it EXTRA special is the most important part: the fresh dill!!!! Don’t forget thye frsh dill! Mmmmm…
Love cranberry sauce.
Can’t wait for Thanksgiving!
I tried my first celery root this season! I’m glad to know another (beautiful) way to use them. My favorite holiday dish is an apple crumble pie from the Applehood Motherpie Upstate NY regional cookbook. My mom makes it every Thanksgiving, and now I have made it the past few Thanksgivings I haven’t been able to be at home. Eating it reminds me of family.
I recently found your blog and just love the way you use fresh produce.
My favorite holiday dish is roasted vegetables. I love some kind of mixture (and love variety), toss with olive oil, generously sea salt and pepper and then will sprinkle a dash of crushed red pepper or, a new recent favorite, is a honey aleppo pepper dried blend. Smokey and a little sweet with roasted vegetable deliciousness. I just joined a CSA and am anxiously awaiting my first winter share delivery!
so cleaver with your layering!
i can’t wait for christmas to remake this roasted veg salad, it is SO GOOD: http://www.sproutedkitchen.com/home/2013/11/14/autumn-salad-with-horseradish-vinaigrette-news.html
I live on a farm, but have never had any luck with vegetable gardening. (We grow hay for horses and such.) So I am thrilled with my CSA membership.
My must have for the holidays is sweet potatoes in any form. Recently my sister in law has been making them Creme brûlée style. She spreads mashed baked sweet potatoes in a pan and tops with brown sugar then it goes in the broiler to get crunchy on top. Not the healthiest, but a delicious treat for the holidays.
My favorite holiday dish is roasted vegetables. My mom and I always chop us whatever veggies we have on hand (usually sweet potato, beets, any variety of winter squash, carrots, parsnips, brussel sprouts, ect) toss them in olive oil and some basic seasonings and then roast them! They veggies carmelize in the oven and the flavors all come together to make the best side dish ever. Plus, it is so simple! I can eat this dish anytime of the year truthfully!
One of my favorite holiday dishes is a homemade cranberry sauce with apples and ginger and cinnamon.
Yum, this looks awesome. As for favorites, we love experimenting with cider and cranberry cocktails! :)
With thanksgiving right around the corner, the first thing that comes to mind is my aunt’s wild rice-cranberry-pecan “stuffing” (totally vegetarian, no turkey involved). She mixes in tiny baby brussels sprouts, too… :)
It’s already been said, but to restate: beautiful reflection on what gardening really is and means to those who do it. Having on the road/not in my own space for so long, I find myself iiiiitching to engage in more tactile creation–i.e., the kind that doesn’t involve a computer–now that I’ve begun putting down some roots (ha!) in this new city.
There’s a big ol’ ratty yard behind our place, still pretty torn up by the previous tenants’ dogs. I’ve got big gardening plans for it once early spring hits :)
xo
YUMMMMM!!! My favorite holiday meals consist of turnip and sweet potato mash, and anything gingery like cookies (preferably a delicious raw/vegan version) and literally anything pumpkin. Can’t wait to try this celeriac mash! THANK YOU!
This looks wonderful. Stuffing is usually my favorite Rhsnksgiving side but I could see this taking it’s place!
This recipe looks supper yummy, could I make ahead and freeze?
Stuffing/Dressing stuffed into tofu then deep fried-Tofu’s Little Pocket of Happiness. The best thing my mom makes during the holiday and some homemade orange cranberry sauce. Can’t wait. Thanks
Laura: Hi Saniel, I haven’t tried freezing this, so I’m not sure how it would perform. I know the beet/lentil filling would be fine. I’m just not sure about the celery root mash–I don’t know if it’s starchy enough to keep its integrity after a freeze. Might be worth a try though!
I always love pumpkin pie
My favorite holiday dish usually involves fresh baked goods or roasted veggies. This year I’m craving roasted brussels sprouts and pecan pie. It just creates a wonderful sense of home.
Beautiful pictures!
I’m a stuffing kind of girl…Love your recipes and trying this one for dinner tonight. Thanks for the giveaway.
Such a beautiful post!! I could look at those pictures all day. I have such a fond memory of eating my grandmother’s dill bread at every Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday meal. And now I will be making it for the first time this year. The smell and taste instantly transports me back to those meals.
Warmly,
Elizabeth
I love all things sweet potato during the holidays.
Gorgeous photos! Your post makes me want to get more adventurous in the garden next year.
Favorite holiday dish – cranberry relish.
I had a garden a few years ago an I miss it so much. I love to go out and pick fresh stuff too. Beautiful pictures and yummy recipe!
I love a sugar pumpkin stuffed with all kinds of goodness and then baked
Lovely post, this. Brilliant photos.
My favorite holiday dish is actually the combination of cranberry sauce and sage-y cornbread stuffing/dressing. Not mixed together – just eaten together.
agree, it is so much fun going out in your garden and picking your own food! I just had a smoothie with chard from my yard (also in Boston subburb).
new to you site and loving it. great photos and writing. we have a garden in the suburbs of Boston and our holiday tradition is to pick all the roots remaining Thanksgiving morning and roast them along with potatoes that were dug a few weeks ago. the thyme and sage are still going strong so they go in as well. it’s always beets, turnips, winter radish and leeks. Next year I’ll try my hand @ celery root. I love them but haven’t given them a try.
I love this post.
I am gardening and growing some produce and I think the bug has bitten me.. I don’t think I can go back to not growing some food!
I love this post – I smiled when I read it and nodded along.
Beautifully written
Betty
OK, this really means fall is here. Looks yummy!