Celery Root Risotto and Pesto

I'm apparently in the minority with this recipe as I thought it leaved a bit to be desired. It calls for way more celeriac than I thought it needed; one would have sufficed as it's very easy for some to go undercooked when working with that much. Also, I didn't feel the pesto made from the celeriac greens added that anything or even had that much flavor on its own, so I added a bit of dried sage. Perhaps substituting your own pesto made with more distinctly flavorful greens might yield a better result? All that said, with a few tweaks, I think this could make a great addition to a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner as the celeriac is such a great fall/winter root veggie. I'd make it again, but I'm taking mad creative liberties.

• DameSnickerdoodle

• Los Angeles, CA

• 4/12/2015

Added lots of pepper, nice

• Andrealange

• 9/21/2012

Made this recipe mostly as-is for a small group to accompany salmon and asparagus. LOVED IT as did the guests and kids. Only difference was I used unsalted butter as it's all I had on hand. A few points of reference in regard to celeriac 1) i wish they would have specified "size" reference for 2 medium celeriacs for those of us as 1st timers using it. I bought 2 softball size softb, one softball size was plenty! Medium must be baseball size and I never saw those in either the farmers market, nor grocery store. 2) one reviewer mentioned toughness of the celeriac. I found that the upper part of the root was softer -before cooking- and so I used more of those parts to ensure softer outcome 3) As another user mentioned, I didn't have enough leaves on my purchased "root", so I added leaves from a regular celery.

• kbidstrup

• San Francisco, CA

• 3/6/2012

wow, this is so good! i'm eating it right now. i'm not a fan of arborio, so i made it with brown basmati, and vegetable broth to keep it vegetarian for the boyfriend. this is SO delish. a couple things: the pesto is great on its own, but i added lemon zest & juice of half a lemon, which adds a great zing on top of the celery flavors. i think it could stand to mirror true pesto more, with the addition of pine nuts or walnuts as well. i also agree with the review that added white wine vinegar to the veggies--always a good choice. i give it 4 forks anyway, because i love the fact that you are using the whole celeriac plant in one dish.

• heatherparlato

• Los Angeles, CA

• 1/22/2011

Made this with celeriac from our garden. The risotto was very good, but we hated the pesto -- maybe our leaves were too fresh and thus strong?? So I have saved the risotto recipe to make again, and will search for another pesto to spice it up...

• julianaiwg

• Bretagne, France

• 2/26/2010

Awesome. Decently easy to make and very comforting and delicious. The pesto on its own is nothing spectacular but in the risotto it provides a wonderful, mildly sharp kick. Make sure to serve right away to maintain the creamy texture...if you leave it sit it could get crumbly and mealy instead of that velvetty texture which makes risotto so good to begin with. Hearty and light at the same time.

• jetnd87

• Dallas, TX

• 11/12/2009

Wow. Looking for recipe to use celeriac and leeks from my CSA and this surpassed expectation. I added 1/2 cup of white wine right after I mixed the risotto w/vegetables. Upped the risotto to 1 cup and still I thought the ratio of risotto to celery root was inadequate. Next time I would only use less celery roots. Followed other reviewers advice and used half asiago and half parmesan cheeses. Delicious!

• mfheenan

• Rhinebeck, NY

• 12/17/2008

Delicious as is. Served with roasted beets and carrots from another recipe for a colorful fall harvest meal.

• Anonymous

• boston, ma

• 11/1/2008

Couldn't find celery root with any greens -- the stores around here cut them off. Used greens from regular celery for the pesto. A truly wonderful, simple, and impressive risotto.

• Anonymous

• Temecula, Ca.

• 6/27/2008

I made this as an alternative to stuffing for Thanksgiving and it was a big hit. I used one celery root and one big parsnip, diced. So delicious. We didn't even need the pesto.

• dkolack

• NYC

• 11/26/2007

Needed a recipe to use up celeriac and leeks- this fit the bill, and then some. I used asiago instead of parmesean and added scallions and a carrot (trying to use up produce in fridge). No risotto, used basmati. Had my own frozen basil pesto- this recipe can be modified and still tastes good!!!

• ealistello

• Grand Rapids, mi

• 10/22/2006