Braised Celery Root with Chickpeas and Saffron

Living in New England and trying to use local ingredients, one ends up with a lot of root vegetables during the winter (we get ours in the Dogma box from Boston Organics).  One recurrence in our house has been Celery, or Celeriac, root.  But, what to do with these monstrosities???

This fantastic recipe was taken from Vegetarian Times magazine. It is surprisingly easy to make, with only 2 actual cooking steps.  The biggest pain is peeling the Celery root.  Once that's done, everything else is a breeze, and you'll be glad you spent the time.  This is an extremely delicious dish, is great over farrow or brown rice, and tastes better over time (fantastic leftovers)!!!!

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/2 cups vegetable broth, low-sodium, divided
• 1 1-gram package of saffron
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped (1 and 1/2 cups)
• 4 cups celery root, peeled and diced
• 3 cups cooked chickpeas (or 2 15-oz. cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced (1 Tbs)
• 2 Tbs. drained capers, optional
• 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 3 Tbs. pine nuts
• 1 Tbs. lemon juice
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

1. Bring 1/2 cup broth to a boil in a small saucepan.  Stir in the saffron, cover, and remove pot from heat.  Let stand 5 minutes or until saffron has softened and broth is a rich, gold color.  This will smell fantastic
2. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat.  Add onion, and cook 7 to 9 minutes, or until soft and golden, stirring often.  Stir in remaining 1 cup vegetable broth, saffron broth mixture, celery root, chickpeas, garlic, capers, and red pepper flakes.  Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 15 minutes, or until celery root cubes are tender when pierced with tip of knife.  Stir in pine nuts and lemon juice, season with salt and pepper if desired, and sprinkle with parsley.