Tuberous chervil ✦

Cerfeuil tubéreux

What it is

Dug in August it is barely worth eating — firm, starchy and flat; the sweetness and the chestnut note only appear after weeks buried in sand in a cool cellar, which is why it reaches market in autumn and not at harvest. It shares a name with the herb but is a different plant, and it is the root that is eaten, never the leaf.

In the kitchen

Do not peel raw: steam or simmer them whole in their skins for about fifteen minutes and the grey skin slips off between finger and thumb, taking almost no flesh. Finish in butter and stop early — a minute too long and they collapse into purée.

Goes with

Butter Cream Scallop Hazelnut Chervil Nutmeg Black truffle

In season alongside

Borlotti bean Brussels sprout Butternut squash Cauliflower Earth chestnut Jerusalem artichoke

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