Celeriac is a bit of a beast to look at, but looks aren’t everything. Beneath that gnarly, knobbly exterior lies creamy white flesh with a sweet, nutty, super-savoury flavour. I turn to celeriac in these winter months; we eat it shaved thinly and raw in salads with a mustardy dressing, cut it into steaks brushed with herbs and griddled, and sometimes roasted whole. Here, though, I use it as the base for a stew with the surprise hit of some cheddar-spiked dumplings on top. It’s also the star of this simple soup, topped with a dukkah-style spicy nut sprinkle, elevating it to something I’d eat any day of the week. You’ll soon be strewing it over everything you cook.

Root vegetable stew with celeriac dumplings (pictured above)

Be sure to peel the celeriac thickly to get rid of any green tinges around the edges, and to remove any stubborn dirt.

Prep 20 min

Cook 2 hr

Serves 6-8

For the stew

Olive oil

6 small red onions, peeled and quartered

1 head garlic, cloves peeled and left whole

3 carrots

2 parsnips

1kg (approx) celeriac

½ bottle red wine

1 litre vegetable stock

2 bay leaves

A few sprigs rosemary leaves

1 tbsp harissa

Salt

1 x 400g tin white beans (I use haricot)

Greens and mustard, to serve

For the dumplings

100g celeriac saved from the stew, grated

100g salted butter, chilled

50g crumbly cheddar

200g self-raising flour

Salt and black pepper

Leaves from a few sprigs of thyme

Egg yolk, for brushing (optional)

Heat the oven to 150C (130C fan)/300F/gas 2. Heat a heavy-based casserole over a medium-high flame and add a good glug of olive oil. Add the onions and garlic and cook for five minutes or so, until they begin to brown.

Meanwhile, peel and chop the vegetables, making sure you save a 100g piece of celeriac for the dumplings. Once the onions are browned, add the vegetables to the pan and cook for another five minutes, stirring occasionally.

Pour in the wine, stock, herbs, harissa and a good pinch of salt, cover with a lid, and put in the oven for an hour and 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the dumpling mixture. Grate the celeriac and butter into a bowl, crumble in the cheddar, add the flour, salt and pepper, and strip in the leaves of the thyme. Add two tablespoons of very cold water, and use your hands to bring the dumpling mixture together into a nice dough – if it looks dry, add a few drops more water. Roll the dumplings into 12 balls.

Once the stew is ready – the vegetables should be soft and yielding, the wine reduced – stir in the beans. Brush the dumplings with egg yolk, if you like, then put them on top of the stew, leaving a little room in between for them to increase in size. Put back in the oven – no lid this time – for another 25-30 minutes, until browned on top. Serve with greens and mustard.

Celeriac soup with spicy nut sprinkle

Keep any leftover spices in an airtight jar for up to six months, or put them on the table for extra sprinkling.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Root manoeuvres: Anna Jones’ celeriac soup with spicy nuts. Photograph: Matt Russell/The Guardian

Prep 15 min

Cook 50 min

Serves 6-8

Olive oil

Butter

1 leek, trimmed and finely sliced

1 celeriac, peeled and roughly chopped

4 apples (I like cox’s), cored and roughly chopped

A few sprigs thyme, leaves picked

1.5 litres vegetable stock

1 × 400g tin butter beans, drained

Salt and black pepper

To serve

2 tbsp nuts, (hazelnuts, almonds, macadamias or cashews), roughly chopped

1 tbsp sesame seeds (I use a mix of black and white)

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

½ tsp fennel seeds

½ tbsp nigella seeds

½ tsp turmeric

½ tsp flaked sea salt

50g butter

Sage and thyme, crisped in butter

Yoghurt, to serve

Parathas or naan, to serve

Heat a splash of oil and a knob of butter in a large pan, then cook the leek over a medium heat for 10 minutes, until soft. Add the celeriac, apples and thyme, and cook for two to three minutes, then add the stock and butter beans, and season well. Simmer over a low heat for 20-30 minutes, until the celeriac is tender, then remove from the heat and blitz smooth with a hand blender. Keep warm.

Toast the nuts and sesame in a frying pan until golden brown, then remove from the pan and set aside. Add the spices to the dry pan and cook for two minutes, until fragrant, shaking the pan so the seeds don’t burn. Crush the spices slightly, then mix in the nuts and flaked sea salt. Remove the spicy nut mix from the pan and set aside if not serving immediately.

Add the butter to the empty pan and, once it’s bubbling, remove from the heat and transfer to a plate to cool. Heat a little more butter in the pan and, once hot, add the herbs and cook until crisp, then transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper.

Ladle the soup into bowls and top with a swirl of yoghurt, a drizzle of the butter and a good sprinkling of the spice mix. Finish with crisp herbs, if you like, and a paratha or naan to dunk.