Creamy Turkey & Celeriac Mash

📝 Ingredients

• 4 turkey escalopes (about 125 g each)
• 2 shallots
• 200 ml light single cream 12%
• ½ chicken stock cube + 100 ml hot water
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 30 g unsalted butter (10 for cooking, 20 for the mash)
• 600 g peeled celeriac (1 medium celeriac)
• 600 g floury potatoes
• 150 ml semi-skimmed milk
• 1 pinch grated nutmeg
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Large saucepan
• Large frying pan
• Potato masher
• Colander
• Peeler
• Chopping board

📖 Steps

1. Peel the celeriac with a knife (its skin is thick) and the potatoes with a vegetable peeler, then cut them into 3 cm cubes. Put them in the saucepan, cover with cold salted water, bring to the boil and cook for 20 to 25 minutes, until a knife slides through them without resistance.
2. Meanwhile, peel and finely chop the shallots, strip the thyme leaves and dissolve the half stock cube in the hot water. Pat the escalopes dry with kitchen paper and season them lightly with salt on both sides: if they are nice and dry, they will brown instead of stewing.
3. About 15 minutes before the vegetables are done, heat the oil and 10 g butter in the frying pan over a medium-high heat. When the butter foams, sear the escalopes for 3 minutes on each side without moving them, until nicely golden and no longer pink in the middle. Set aside, covered.
4. Lower to a medium-low heat and soften the shallots for 2 to 3 minutes in the same pan, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom with a spatula. Pour in the hot stock and reduce by half for 2 minutes.
5. Add the cream and thyme, season with pepper and simmer gently for 3 to 4 minutes over a low heat, until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Return the escalopes and their juices and warm them through for 2 minutes, turning them, without ever letting the sauce boil hard.
6. Drain the vegetables and leave them to steam dry for 1 minute in the colander. Heat the milk for 1 minute in the microwave. Mash the vegetables with a potato masher in the empty saucepan (never in a blender, or the mash will turn gluey) with 20 g butter, adding the hot milk little by little.
7. Season the mash with salt, pepper and nutmeg, then beat it vigorously for 1 minute with a wooden spoon to lighten it. Serve each escalope coated in sauce, with a generous portion of mash on the side.