First prepare the beetroot dressing. Peel the beetroot and dice quite finely. Place in a bowl and stir in the crème fraiche and horseradish. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and set aside.Next cut the potatoes and celeriac into cubes. Place in a steamer and cook over boiling water for 12-15 minutes, or until tender. Mash until smooth. Place in a clean pan for a few seconds to dry out. Allow to cool before adding the flour, whole eggs, egg whites, cream and milk. Beat thoroughly until smooth and then add lots of salt and pepper. Cooking the crepes will depend on the thickness you require. If available, use an oiled blini pan, but a regular pan will suffice if you have a metal ring to pour the mixture into. Otherwise, use a regular crepe pan, which will produce thinner crepes. Brush the pan of your choice with oil and when smoking pour in a quarter of the batter and immediately reduce the heat to as low as possible. Cook for 3-4 minutes until bubbles appear over the surface and the batter is almost set. Flip the crepe over and cook the other side; it will only need about 20 seconds. Keep warm in a low oven while you cook the other crepes. Serve with the beetroot dressing.

Celeriac Salad

225 g celeriac, peeled
5 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon each gherkin and capers, finely chopped
2 tablespoon mixed herbs, chopped
Mustard to taste

Cut the celeriac into thin strips, or grate it on the coarse side of the grater. Mix all the rest of the ingredients together and stir thoroughly into the celeriac. Put in a cool place for several hours before serving so that the celeriac can soften in the sauce and the flavours combine.

Gratin of Celeriac

1 large or 2 small celeriac
a little lemon juice
4 tablespoons parmesan cheese, grated
25 g (1 oz) butter
1 tablespoon bread crumbs
3 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
125 g (4 oz) of streaky bacon , chopped (optional)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large carrot, diced
1 kg (2 lb) tomatoes, skinned, chopped or 1 large can
150 ml (5 fl oz) dry white or red wine
salt and pepper
sugar
dried oregano
fresh basil

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Cut the celeriac into slices and peel. Rub the cut edges with lemon juice to prevent discolouration. Cook the slices in boiling salted water until just tender. Arrange in a buttered gratin dish, sprinkling parmesan cheese and dots of butter on each layer. Add the garlic, onion and bacon to a pan and heat with the oil until they are soft. Add the carrot, tomatoes and wine. Break down the tomatoes with a wooden spoon. If using fresh tomatoes, raise the heat and cook, uncovered for 15 minutes. If using canned tomatoes cook more slowly over a medium heat for 45 minutes. Add salt, pepper and oregano after the first 10 minutes. When the sauce is cooked, add the fresh basil and pour over the celeriac slices. Top with cheese, bread crumbs and dots of butter. Cook in the oven for 15 minutes and brown the surface under the grill. Serve with green vegetables.

Celeriac Soup with Apple and Cotswold Blue Veined Brie

Serves 4

1 medium sized celeriac
1 small onion
2 garlic cloves
3 apples
1 tbsp butter
175g or just over half a 320g portion of Cotswold Blue Veined Brie
Serve with:
Rye sourdough bread

Peel the celeriac and cut into 1 inch hunks. Peel and finely chop the onion. Place in a large saucepan along with the whole, peeled garlic cloves. Cover with water and bring to the boil. Place a lid on the pot and simmer for 15 minutes. Peel the apples, core and cut into 1inch cubes. Add to the celeriac and cook for another 5-10 minutes, or until tender. Once cooked, puree in batches with enough cooking liquid to give you a smooth, reasonably thick, creamy-looking puree. Reserve any lingering cooking liquid. Transfer puree to back to a clean saucepan. Trim the rind from the cheese, cut into smallish cubes and stir into soup. Place over low heat to help melt the cheese. If the soup is too thick, simply add some of the reserved cooking liquid. Serve warm with sourdough bread.

Celeriac, Cold Roast Chicken and Watercress

Celeriac can be eaten raw. It gives a lovely crunch to this salad and it has a very similar taste to celery, making it lovely with roast or smoked chicken. Serves 2 as a main or 4 as a side or light dish along with some bread.

1 smallish celeriac, or ½ a big celeriac
1 lemon, halved and ready to squeeze
A good handful of cold roast chicken, or 1 smoked chicken breast
2 good handfuls of watercress, baby spinach and/or rocket leaves
Pinch of sea salt
2 tbsp of a good extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp fresh tarragon leaves (or any other soft green herb will do)
1 ripe pear, quartered, cored and thinly sliced
2 tbsp pinenuts, toasted
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Cut a 2 inch panel off the side of a celeriac. Slice rough outer skin off in panels with a knife and discard. Wash celeriac and cut into julienne strips. Squeeze a bit of lemon over to keep it from discolouring.

Toss with shredded cold roast chicken and two good handfuls of watercress. Sprinkle on a pinch or two of sea salt, drizzle over a bit of olive oil and squeeze over more lemon. Add tarragon or other green leaves.

Gently add the pear slices, pinenuts and balsamic vinegar. Serve with crusty bread. Delicious!

Celeriac Dauphinoise with Thyme and Smoked Ham

Serves 4-6

500g celeriac (about 1/2 a fairly large one)
1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
2 slices of lemon
1 large onion
6 garlic cloves
2 apples
250ml cream (I use Berkeley Farm's Guernsey Pouring Cream, but any will do - though, the better your cream, the more delicious the dish!)
50g smoked ham
8 thyme sprigs, leaves only
150g breadcrumbs (best if homemade from a good loaf of stale bread)

Preheat your oven to 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4. Lightly grease a large baking dish with butter or olive oil.

Cut the knobbly peel from the celeriac. Slice the celeriac halve in half. Then, thinly slice (about 1/2-1cm thick). The celeriac slices should look a bit triangular, with one rounded side, and be about 4-5cm on each of the sides. Warm your stock and plunge the slices in it, along with the lemon slices. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the celeriac in tender.

Once the celeriac is cooked, turn the heat off but leave the celeriac in the stock. Peel and dice your onion. Peel and finely chop the garlic cloves. Add them to the still warm celeriac/stock. Peel your apples, core, quarter and cut into thin slices and add it to the stock as well.

Drain the stock off. Add the ham and thyme leaves. Then, pour over the cream. Add a good pinch of salt and a generous grinding of black pepper and give the whole thing a good mix, though be careful doing so as you don't want to break up the pieces of celeriac.

Carefully pour all the well-mixed up ingredients into the dish. Gently shake it to help everything fall into nice layers. Press it with your hand a bit to help shuffle the sliced apple and veg into place. Sprinkle over the breadcrumbs.

Cover with foil or a baking tray (an eco-friendly option which works just as good as foil does) and bake for 40 minutes. Check halfway through, and pat down with a spatula. Uncover and bake for a further 10-15 minutes, until golden. Stand for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with purple sprouted broccoli and a salad.

Apple and Celeriac Salad

Serves 4 as a side or 2 as a main, if you add cold roast chicken to the mix

Prep time: 15-20 mins

2 mugs of celeriac, peeled and cut into matchsticks
2 mugs of cored apples, cut into matchsticks
1 lemon
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 mugs of crème fraîche or 1 mug of mayo
A big handful of herbs or rocket
A handful toasted pinenuts or walnuts (optional)
A handful shredded, leftover roast chicken (optional)

Toss celeriac and apples in a bowl along with the lemon juice (and zest, if you fancy). Season well. Fold in the garlic and crème fraîche. Scatter the herbs over the top, along with toasted nuts and/or chicken, if using. Mix. Serve.

You could stuff this between bread and call it a sandwich or add leafy greens to transform it into a more lush salad. If you didn't add chicken, you could serve it with a hot, just roasted bird, or a joint of roasted pork.

Celeriac Pureé

Celeriac, which looks like a brain, is another of those great British vegetables that people avoid because they don't know quite what to do with it. Here is a straightforward example. It's delicious with roast pork and some garlicky greens such as spinach or cavelo nero.

Serves 4 as a side dish

1 celeriac, rough outer skin removed and diced into 2.5cm cubes
2 garlic cloves, peeled
A knob of butter
½ mug mascarpone cheese
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place the diced celeriac and garlic cloves in a pot of salted water (to just cover) and simmer for about 15 mins, until the celeriac is fork tender. Drain, pop the celeriac and garlic back into the pot and move it around over a low heat for a minute or two to remove some of the moisture. Now you can either blitz it in a blender or mash in the pot to a smooth paste before folding through the butter and mascarpone. Season and serve.