Celery Root

To make these celery root latkes a little easier, you can shred the potatoes, onions, and celery root in a food processor with the shredding disk.

Cooking the garlic inside the skin not only saves time but also mellows the harshness of its flavor and results in tender cloves that can be peeled easily. Squeeze the cloves out of their skins and eat them with the chicken and the bread.

Truffles add a flavorful woodsy note, but if you make this French-influenced celery-root purée without them, it will still be delicious.

Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 1 3/4 hr

This recipe is an accompaniment for Daniel Boulud's Short Ribs Braised in Red Wine with Celery Duo.

The duck leg confit brings added richness to the bisque, but the soup is also delicious without it.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Finnan Haddie Gratin Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 2 1/4 hr

Celery root gives the potatoes an intriguing new taste; mascarpone cheese provides the ultimate in creaminess.

"I recently had lunch at Café Boulud here in New York," says Shelli Rafkin of New York, New York. "My entrée, blanquette de veau, had the most incredible sauce I've ever tasted. The whole dish, in fact, was sensational." In this variation on the classic stew, the veal and the vegetables are cooked separately and combined at the end, when they're topped with a rich white sauce.

Strong beef broth and garlic, not sugar, make a true Ukrainian borscht delicious. Fresh root vegetables and roasted beets provide plenty of sweetness which is balanced by an acid edge of lemon.

This dish was inspired by pommes Anna, the regal, crisp-crusted potato cake rumored to have been named for Anna Deslions, a famous courtesan in nineteenth-century Paris.

Offer this main course with plenty of crusty bread to soak up the delicious saffron broth. A crisp Sauvignon Blanc is good here, too.

We found celery root and Jerusalem artichokes equally delicious in this puree.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

What the New Sammy's menu describes as a broth is really a purée. The dish is somewhat monochromatic, but its fascinating flavor spectrum will make your mouth extremely happy.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.