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 pancakes for 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
- 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
- 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.
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!
Lore says
i’ve just tried the recipe and it’s so great! I hate the taste of celery and celeriac, but this didn’t taste at all of it. I baked it on both sides and put it onto a kitchen towel to get off a little bit of the grease and it even firmed up a little. Thanks so much, I’ve got tons of recipes that require rostis!
Mind the Home says
These looks so good and I reckon there’ll be NO problem adding a lot of parmesan like someone commented on ;). Celeriac is such an understated veggie, love it!
DanaW says
This was delicious. A few things to share: the parmesan IS the glue so use plenty;ruse a nonstick sauté pan (and it stuck a little anyway); use bacon grease f you don’t have bacon (yes, I was out); and finally, cover the pan for a few minutes to get the top tender and then remove for final crisping. We loved it!
lisa says
Just curious why you chose to go with no egg…
I’m tempted to try it like I would a regular potato latke with egg and make them smaller and brown on both sides.
Unless there’s something I’m missing here.
Thanks for your great recipes,
Love your new site.
Mellissa Sevigny says
You can certainly do that Lisa! A traditional Rosti is just potatoes, fat, and salt so that’s what I went with. Egg can inhibit the crispness sometimes and in this pancake wasn’t necessary at all. But the celeriac will work just as well in a latkes recipe with egg!
AbbyG says
Just made this for lunch. So good! I’ve never cooked with celeriac before — how did I miss this vegetable? I plan to make this for Sunday brunch for my hubby (and maybe not tell him its not potatoes!)
movita beaucoup says
That photo of Snow Boy up there almost makes me feel better about the winter we’re having here. Almost.
Mellissa Sevigny says
It is hard to be mad about it in the face of such bald enthusiasm. He keeps asking me to come out and play in the snow with him and I’m like “maybe when the temperature gets into the double digits again.” Which right now feels like never. It was -7 this morning, with a wind chill of -23. I can’t even…
Susan says
Melissa you don’t cook it on the other side?
Mellissa Sevigny says
Nope! You cook it long enough that it gets soft and cooked on top even though you don’t flip it. You could throw it under the broiler for a minute or two if you make it a little thicker to be sure it’s cooked through and crisp it up but it’s really not necessary!
Terri says
I can’t wait! Just this week I tried the roasted radishes as a replacement for red potatoes (sooo good) but a hash brown replacement!!! Now were talkin “Thank you and stay warm!
Mellissa Sevigny says
Thanks Terri – I love the radishes too but you just don’t get the same crunchy texture as this recipe delivers! It’s pretty awesome – can’t wait to hear what you thought of it when you try it out!
SallyBR says
BTW, sorry to post this in the comments, but I’ve been getting TWO email notifications of new posts from you – not sure why. Is there a way for you to remove one of the subscription settings? Not sure why this is happening…. I get both by email, maybe a few minutes apart
Mellissa Sevigny says
Thanks for letting me know that, I’ll take a look!
SallyBR says
I often stare at celeriac at the store and tell myself, boy, you ARE ugly…
Never cooked it at home, although enjoyed it often in France – and now I came across as a full fledged snob! ;-)
I should really bring one home and make this dish, sounds great!
Gina says
This sounds like a great replacement for those extra crispy hash browns I miss so much with breakfast. I plan on looking for celeriac at one of our larger grocery chains next week but wondered if another hard root veggie could be used if I can’t find this one. I’ve made parsnip fries and turnip fries. Parsnips don’t have a lot of their own flavour…do you think they could be used? All saw some Rutabagas the other day!! Hadn’t seen those since I left MS in 1990. Would their texture work?
Thanks for all your help with making meals interesting! I just got into size 22 jeans down from a 26 since going back to LC with a vengeance in October!! Didn’t even have to lay on the bed to zip them babies up, woo whoo!
Mellissa Sevigny says
You could do something similar with other veggies but parsnips have more carbs and a different flavor. Not sure about rutabagas but plan to experiment soon so let me know if you try it!
Hélène says
rutabagas quite carb-y also.
all root vegs are WONDERFUL tho IMO
i can fry up a buncha onions and some garlic in coconut oil or butter or bacon grease and go to town just eating THAT with s&p and vinegar.
eggs optional ;)