Celeriac cutlets

Celeriac (also known as ‘celery root’) is really a forgotten vegetable, which is a pity. It has all the wonderful flavor of celery, without the stinginess. You can cut it in half and use part of it for a soup, and bread and fry the other half. It keeps for quite a long time (3-4 weeks) in a cool place.

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 medium – large celeriac
• 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 cup dried bread crumbs
• water with lemon juice
• oil for frying
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Slicing the celeriac thinly is the most difficult part. Use a good strong bread-knife to make the slices 1/8-1/4 inch thick. Slice away the outer skin and place in a bowl of water with lemon juice so that the slices do not discolor. From one rather large celeriac you can get about 12 slices.
2. Have 3 shallow bowls or soup plates ready to do the breading process.
   One bowl will have dry flour. (about 1/4 cup)
   The 2nd bowl will have four mixed with some water to make a thin batter.
   The 3rd bowl will have the bread crumbs mixed with a bit of salt and pepper.
3. First dredge both sides of each slice into plain dry flour.
4. Then lay each side in the flour batter and then lastly lay the slice in the bread crumbs.
5. Prepare a frying pan with oil.
6. When the oil is hot, lay a few of the slices in the pan and fry on each side until golden brown.
7. I then, keep the slices hot in the oven, while I fry up the rest of the celeriac.
8. After a couple of “rounds” of frying, the left over crumbs in the frying pan will become dark brown. Using a paper towel, clean out the frying pan, and renew with fresh oil, otherwise, the rest of the celeriac slices will become dark brown and not so tasty.

Notes:

We usually enjoy the celeriac cutlets with a splash lemon juice, and sometimes sambal ulek. The also make a really nice burger, with tomato, lettuce and a nice fresh basil sauce or a soy tartar sauce. Optionally you can use mixed nuts that have been finely ground to make the crust also.