Greetings from the freezing cold North! We are still in NY for another week, and believe it or not I’m starting to get used to the cold. The other day it was in the teens and I went out to the car without a coat on to bring in the groceries. I didn’t even feel that cold, which means I’m getting my Yankee street cred back after being in SC for five years.
I’m proud to say that Hungry Jr. has adapted to the cold and snow quite well – he’s definitely a New Englander at heart, even though we’ve lived in the South most of his life. I wish I could get as excited about winter as he is, but as an adult I just can’t muster up the same enthusiasm.
What I hate most about New England winters isn’t the cold, or the early darkness, or the 5 long months of dreary monochromaticity – as NOT fun as those things can be.
No, it’s driving in the snow and ice that I really dread. No matter how steady your hands and feet, you’re at the mercy of other driver’s ineptitude, and random potholes that can spin you around in seconds.
The other night I was picking up Mr. Hungry so had no choice but to go out, even though it had been snowing all day and the roads were a mess. While I was coming over one of the worst sections of the mountain, the person behind me fishtailed and spun around three times before ending up in a snowbank while I looked on in horror.
They appeared to be fine and pulled right back out into the road behind me, but it made my hands shake the rest of the way because I was still 10 minutes out with a 20 minute return ride home ahead of me.
We made it to the house without incident, but I poured myself a generous shot of bourbon when we got back to calm my nerves. Then I set about making the guys some of these delicious low carb celery root rosti that I had experimented with earlier that day.
If you’ve had a rough day, these crisp and comforting celery root (aka. celeriac) pancakes will definitely make it all better. They are so good that it’s impossible to not be almost giddy when eating them (or maybe that was the bourbon.)
In spite of the things I’m not enjoying about being up here during the winter, one of the perks is having access to a much better variety of produce and other ingredients than down in rural South Carolina. I haven’t seen celeriac in all the years we’ve lived down there, and if I’d asked someone in our tiny local grocery store if they carried it I’m pretty sure I’d have gotten a blank stare followed by “Selary-wuuut?” So I’ve made due.
I was excited to find that the local grocery store here in NY carried Celeriac, because it’s an awesome low carb potato substitute. If you’ve never tried it before it may be a little intimidating at first – it certainly doesn’t LOOK appetizing (or even edible) at first glance.
Once you get into the firm, white center though, you can do all sorts of great things with celery root. You’ll find that it has a slight celery smell, and a faint celery flavor as well. That’s why I chose to mask it with strong flavors like bacon and parmesan in this recipe. I swear if I didn’t tell you it wasn’t potato in this recipe, you’d never know it.
To prepare your Celery root, cut it in half (carefully) and then lay the flat half on your cutting board and cut down the sides to take the inedible peel off in ribbons.
Then you can use celery root in almost anything you’d use potatoes in. Cook it and puree it, roast it, cube it and put it in soups and stews, etc. My favorite of course is to shred it up and use it to make a Rosti-inspired pancake.
You guys know I love my cauliflower as a low carb substitute for potatoes, but as versatile as it is, there are things it doesn’t do well – like fry up crisply.
Celery root fills in the gaps for things that cauliflower can’t do – so between the two of them there is almost nothing you can’t make low carb and delicious!
We had these celery root pancakesfor dinner, but there were some leftovers (hard to believe, I know) which I ate with runny eggs and a couple of slices of bacon the next morning.
Talk about the breakfast of champions, I think I liked it even better for brekky than I did at dinner time! Pretty much any time you eat these low carb rosti they are going to be fantastic.
So next time you run into some celery root in your grocery store, snatch it up and make these low carb rosti! Then be sure to report back!
Keto Rosti Notes:
Celeriac doesn’t turn brown as fast as potatoes so you can mix all of the ingredients together a few hours before and store it covered in the refrigerator if you’re making these for a crowd.
You’ll notice the lack of eggs here and might be wondering how it stays together. Because it’s relatively thin and you let it cook for quite awhile, the crunchy pieces on the pan side bond together and keep it from falling apart – you’ll still need to treat it gently though when transferring to the serving dish.
If you double the recipe, be sure to make two pancakes rather than one big one – if you try to pack too much into the pan at once and make them overly thick, they won’t have the same pleasing texture.
Keto Celery Root, Bacon & Parmesan Rosti Video
Low Carb Celeriac, Bacon & Parmesan Rosti
- Author: Mellissa Sevigny
- Yield: 2 servings (1/2 each) 1x
Description
This is a delicious, crispy low carb pancake that makes a wonderful side dish to any meal, including breakfast! You can customize the flavors with other add ins too!
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 Tbsp chopped bacon, raw
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 cup shredded raw Celeriac
- 1 tsp chopped fresh parsley
- 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
Instructions
- In a 12-14 inch saute pan, fry the bacon in olive oil and butter until mostly crisp. Meanwhile combine the shredded celeriac, parsley, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and garlic powder and mix well. Add the celeriac mixture to the pan with the cooked bacon in it and stir well. With the back of a large spoon, press the mixture into the bottom of the pan to form a round cake.
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[/url] - Cook on low-medium heat for about 5 minutes or until the bottom is dark golden brown and crisp, and the top is softened. Carefully place a serving plate over your pan and flip the cake onto it crispy side up. Serve hot garnished with more parsley if desired.
[/url]Notes
Approx nutrition info per 1/2 rosti: 137 calories, 15g fat, 4g net carbs, 5g protein
- Category: Low Carb Side Dish
- Cuisine: Swiss
You should also check out the Cookbooks Page to download your copy of The Gluten Free Low Carber and any or all of my Ezines! I’m running a special of all five (over 150 recipes!) for just $19.99 – or you can get them piecemeal if you already have some of them and just want to complete your collection!
