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I really like celeriac (aka celery root), so I'm always trying to find new ways to prepare the misshapen brown rootwad. And latkes are one of my favorite food groups.
You'll need a medium-sized celeriac, a couple of spuds (plain old russets or Yukon Golds, which have the same texture but a bit more flavor and a little color...roughly the same volume as the celeriac), a couple of eggs, two green onions, flour, maybe a bit of buttermilk, and some oil. For the pepper sauce, gather a red bell pepper, an onion, a couple of cloves of garlic, a glass of white wine, and olive oil.
You can't exactly peel celeriac, but approximate the process by using a sharp knife to slice thin pieces off the outside until most of the brown stuff is gone. While raw it's still pretty tough, so grate the celeriac coarsely with a food processor (if you don't have one, you can grate by hand with a box grater...I did the first time I made these, but it took some effort).
Grate the spuds, peel and all (I prefer the box grater for potatoes, but the Cuisinart is okay...just don't mix the celeriac and potato yet). As with Tex-Mex Latkes (and any other latkes, for that matter), you need to squeeze out some of the liquid from the grated potatoes. My preferred method is to grab a handful, squeeze it over the sink, and put it into another bowl. Repeat until the spuds have been dewatered.
Mix the very dry grated celeriac with the wetter potatoes. Slice the green onions in half lengthwise, then chop into thin slices and toss 'em in. Break in the eggs and mix well, then sprinkle in a couple of tablespoons of flour and mix again. If this still seems sort of dry, splash in some buttermilk (or plain milk or, for a richer flavor, creme fraiche). The goal is cohesion...the latkes need to stick together, but you don't want them too batter-y. A little judgment is called for here.
In a cast iron skillet or similarly heavy frying pan, heat enough olive oil (tastes better...use canola or anything else if you prefer) to cover the bottom until it just starts to smoke. Drop in spoonfuls of the latke mix (actually, you want to carefully slide the latke mix into the oil so it doesn't splash, but cookbooks always say "drop"). Size of the latke is up to you, but more than 2 inches across and they get hard to flip. Cook a few at time, but don't crowd them. They should brown quickly, within a couple of minutes, so you may have to adjust the heat while you cook. Carefully flip them over (a spatula/fork combo works well) and cook on the other side until nicely browned. Remove from pan and drain on newspaper (or paper towels if you're profligate).
Add oil, let it heat up, and repeat until you've used up all of the mixture. These are best right out of the pan, but the reality of making latkes is that it takes some time to do them all, so you'll probably want to cook these ahead if you're feeding a group. Lay them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet and reheat in a hot oven until they sizzle.
Serve with red pepper sauce (or the universal latke condiment, ketchup).
Coarsely chop the red pepper, onion, and garlic. Sauté in olive oil until everything's soft, about 10 minutes. Pour a glass of white wine (Italian pinot grigio is my current fav, but anything medium dry works), drink half, and put the rest in the hot pan. Let it boil it up for a few seconds, then remove from heat.
After this has cooled a bit, put it all in the processor and puree. A blender will do it, but work in small batches. It's a chore, but you can also chop the livin' daylights out of the cooked stuff and then mash it up some more and get pretty close to a puree.