Celeriac, Clam & Truffle Risotto

Ingredients

• 1 head celeriac
• 50ml white wine vinegar, plus 1 tsp
• 500gm Cloudy Bay Clams
• 500m chicken stock
• 50g butter
• 1 black truffle, finely chopped
• 150g mascarpone
• 150g Parmesan
• 150ml reduced dark chicken stock
• 1 grapefruit, peeled and segmented
• 1 stick celery, leaves only

Method

Wash and peel the celeriac, reserving the peel. Rough chop 500g of the flesh and cut the rest into very small dice, about the size of grains of rice.

Place the celeriac peel and 500ml water into a saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve and reserve the stock.

Bring a pan of salted water to the boil, add the roughly chopped celeriac and simmer for 10-12 minutes until soft. Drain, then place into a food processor with 50ml of the white wine vinegar. Blend to a fine purée then pass through a fine sieve.

Cook the clams in boiling salted water with the teaspoon of white wine vinegar for four minutes until the clams open. Drain the clams then pick them from the shell discard any that have not opened.

Heat a non-stick frying pan until medium hot, add the butter and celeriac dice and cook gently for one minute. Add a little of the celeriac stock at a time, as if making a risotto, and when the stock is absorbed add some more, until the celeriac is just tender, this should take only 5-6 minutes. Add the truffle and cook for one minute.

Once cooked, add the mascarpone, Parmesan and reduced dark chicken stock. Add the clams and stir through.

To serve, spoon the celeriac purée into the base of a soup plate. Spoon the 'risotto' over the top. Scatter the grapefruit segments over and finish with a little celery leaf.