Baked celeriac, pear and espresso sauce
Chantelle Nicholson, Illy’s UK chef ambassador, is rightly known as the queen of low-waste cookery. In this inventive but simple recipe, she shows just how much flavour is left in often forgotten ingredients, simmering spent coffee grounds with celeriac peelings and pear cores to make a buttery and aromatic espresso sauce. Illy is the first Italian coffee company to achieve B Corp certification, and in this recipe Chantelle uses their Cerrado Mineiro Brazil coffee. This coffee is grown exclusively with regenerative agriculture techniques, and Cerrado Minerio is the first region in Brazil to have Designation of Origin status, ensuring traceability and quality.
Ingredients
Metric
Imperial
- 1 celeriac
- 2 pears, quartered and cored, cores reserved
- 1 tbsp of vegetable oil
- 60g of unsalted butter, diced
- 10g of used coffee grounds
Method
Preheat the oven to 165°C fan. Scrub the celeriac well, then peel it, reserving the peelings
- 1 celeriac
Put the peelings on a baking tray and roast for 10 minutes until golden, then remove from the oven and turn the heat up to 180°C
Tip them into a medium saucepan, add the pear cores, then cover with water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes. Add the spent coffee and simmer for another 3 minutes, then strain through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan
- 2 pears, quartered and cored, cores reserved
- 10g of used coffee grounds
Cut the peeled celeriac into 8 wedges. Heat a large ovenproof frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the vegetable oil and, when hot, season the wedges well and place them in the pan. Cook until golden on one side, then turn them over and add half the butter and four of the pear quarters, flesh-side down
- 1 tbsp of vegetable oil
- 30g of unsalted butter, diced
Transfer the pan to the oven and roast everything for 10 minutes
To finish the sauce, bring the liquid to a simmer, then add the remaining butter, swirling constantly to emulsify. Taste and add more salt if needed
- 30g of unsalted butter, diced
Finely slice the remaining four pear quarters, then plate the dish. Put two wedges of celeriac onto each plate, add the baked pear, drizzle with the sauce, and finish with the fresh pear
From New Zealand law student to the opening of her first solo sustainable restaurant Apricity (which won a Michelin green star in 2023), Chantelle Nicholson’s hard work and determination – especially in evolving free-from and plant-based cooking at the highest level – has cemented her reputation as one of the UK's most forward-thinking chefs.
Get in touch
Please sign in or register to send a comment to Great British Chefs.
