This is the appetizer I prepared for Christmas dinner this year. It was very loosely inspired by a dish I enjoyed at Michelin-starred Bistro de la Mer in Amsterdam. The flavor combination is quite unique but works very well. The earthy celeric, shrimp, and shii take mushrooms are contrasted by the celery vinaigrette and the dish is high in umami flavors. The only drawback of this dish is that it is quite finicky to plate, but it does look great and can be prepared completely in advance.

XO sauce is a sauce from Hong Kong of dried scallops with oil and chillies, but for some reason the version with scallops is now illegal to be imported in Europe and so it is made with shiitake mushrooms and soy paste instead.

Ingredients

Serves 8

• 1 celeriac
• 200 grams (7 oz) peeled and deveined grey shrimp
• 3 Tbsp XO shiitake sauce
• celery salt (salt mixed with ground celery seed; substitute regular salt)
• olive oil

For the vinaigrette

• 5 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 hard-boiled egg
• 1 tsp mustard
• 25 grams celery leaves (substitute flat leaf parsley)
• 1/4 tsp celery salt (substitute regular salt)
• fresly ground white pepper

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Peel the celeriac, slice it very thickly (about 1.5 cm or 1/2 inch) and brush the slices but olive oil. Arrange them on a baking sheet lined with oven paper in a single layer.

Roast in the oven at 200C/400F for about 30 minutes, turning them about 15 minutes. The celeriac should turn out cooked through (check with a fork) and golden brown. Allow to cool off.

Use cookie cutters with a diameter of 8 cm (3 inches) and 5.5 cm (2 inches) to cut rings out of the celeric.

Reserve the remaining celeriac for another use, such as this pasta dish. Season the celeriac rings lightly with celery salt.

Place the XO Shiitake sauce in a sieve…

…pressing down with a spoon to strain out the oil.

To make the vinaigrette, place all of the ingredients in a blender…

…and blend until smooth.

To assemble the dish, place a celeriac ring on a plate and arrange the shrimp on top. Point the fatter side of the shrimp outwards.

Brush the shrimp with the oil filtered from the XO mushroom sauce.

Place a line of XO mushrooms on top of the shrimp. It may be helpful to use pincers for this.

Finish with a tablespoon of vinaigrette in the center. The dish can be served at once or refrigerated, but then take it out of the refrigerator at least half an hour before serving to allow it to come to room temperature.

Wine pairing

If you like to start the meal with a sparkling wine like a Champagne, this will certainly pair well with that (as almost anything pairs well with Champagne). A nice Chardonnay such as a white Burgundy will also work very well.