Celeriac with Puy Lentils and Mustard Caper Sauce

The HERO VEG cookbook from SortedFood is a real game changer when it comes to eating vegetables.
This is the 3rd recipe I've cooked in a bit more then a week.
They are on the more time consuming side, then most meat dishes.

This time I cooked the recipe as it was, the only thing I've changed was the watercress for decoration. In Britain you find that in every supermarket, here in Germany it is virtually unknown. In a normal rainy summer, I would drive out to the forest about 7 km from here. I know a creek in the middle of the forest where wild watercress grows. But in these hot summers, I have no chance because the creek is dry. I used some fresh herbs from my balcony instead, such as sorrel, Japanese spinach and pimpernel.

Recipe for 3:
3 slices of celeriac about 1 inch thick - buy a head of celeriac about 1,2 kg and use the rest for soup stocks
75 g unsalted butter
2 sprigs of thyme
2 tbsp honey
150 ml veg stock
100 ml double cream
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp capers

Lentils:
1 medium brown onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 stick celery
1 tbsp olive oil
200 g Puy lentils
2 sprigs rosemary
125  ml white wine
2 bay leaves
3 tbsp extra vergine olive oil
50 g fresh herbs or watercress

Peel the onion and garlic and chop the celery stalk. In a wide pan with a lid, heat up the oil and cook onion and celery for 5 min, stir often. Add the garlic and cook a bit more.
Add lentils and rosemary and stir well. Get the temperature on high and add bay leaves wine. Reduce the wine by half. Add 850 ml water, bring to a boil, close the lid, reduce the heat and cook for 45 min or until the lentils are soft but still retain a bite. Get some of the liquid out, fish out rosemary and bay leaves and stir in extra virgin olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

While this is cooking, peel the celeriac and cut it into 1 inch slices. It does not matter if they are a bit uneven.
In a pan wide enough to get all slices in, heat up the butter until it starts to foam.
Put in the slices and cook on each side for 5 min. Season with salt and pepper  add the thyme and honey and the stock. Cover with a lid and cook at low heat for 15-20 min. Check if the celeriac is done after 15 min. Take the slices out and keep them warm
Reduce the liquid on heat a bit and add double cream and mustard and the capers.

On each plate put one slice in the middle, get some lentils around. Top with sauce and add fresh herbs.