Simple Celeriac Gratin

Found myself with three celery roots in the crisper drawer the other day. Also in the fridge: rather too much heavy cream. Hence this gratin. Simple, rich, quite tasty as dinner with a salad. I put this in a small 6x8 baking dish but I bet it would scale up well, and next time I have a lot of celery root kicking around, I'm definitely making this again.

Celeriac Gratin
serves 2-4 as a side dish

3 medium celery roots (celeriacs), peeled and sliced 1/4" thick
1 1/2 - 2 cups heavy cream
salt and pepper
2 ounces gruyere cheese, grated
butter for the baking dish

Preheat the oven to 375.

Put the sliced celery roots in a sauce pan and add enough cream to almost cover them. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a simmer over medium high heat, then reduce the heat and let cook, stirring a couple of times, for 15-20 minutes until the celery root is tender when pierced with a knife.

Butter a 2 quart baking dish, and transfer the celery root to the dish. Pour the cream over it, but you might not want to use all the cream - it's ok if the top layer of celery root isn't covered. Shred the cheese and put that on top. Stick it in the oven for 20 minutes, then rotate the pan and cook another 15-20 minutes or until the top is richly browned. Let stand 5-10 minutes (until no longer bubbling), then serve.