Celery Root Cordon Bleu

Cordon bleu has always been considered a deluxe gourmet meal. We are happy to offer a substitute, that we think might taste even better than the original. At least one can enjoy it with a free conscience.

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

• 2 medium celery roots (plan 2 nice slices per person)
• 14 ounces vegan cheese (we used 2 packages of Cheezly)
• 1 package (8 slices) vegan cold cut such as bologna or ham
• 3/4 cup dried bread crumbs
• 1 & 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup water
• oil for frying
• 2 lemons

Directions:

This meal is a bit picky and messy to make. However, it is really worth the effort to make it. It tastes as delicious as I thought it would. What is picky, is the dredging, the keeping the various layers together through the “breading” process and placing the cordon bleu in the frying pan to be fried. Once one side has been fried to a golden brown, then the cheese has melted enough to hold it all together so turning it over is not so difficult.

Plan for 2 slices of cordon bleu per person or perhaps more if you have big eaters. That will mean 2 slices of celery root per person.
Plan 1 slice of vegan cheese for each celery root slice. It would be best to use a sort of vegan cheese that melts. However if that is not available other sorts of vegan cheese will work also. It would not be good to grate or shred the cheese, you will want it to be a slice that matches the size and shape of the celery root as closely as possible.
Plan 1 slice of vegan bologna or ham for each celery root slice.

First prepare the flour and breadcrumbs for the “breading” process.
Place 1/2 cup of flour in a deep plate or shallow bowl.
Place 3/4 – 1 cup of flour in a second deeper soup bowl or dish.
Mix the water with this flour to form a liquid paste.
Place the breadcrumbs in a 3rd shallow bowl.

Slice the vegan cheese into 8 thin slices.
Prepare 8 individual slices of vegan cold cut.
Slice the celery roots in thin 1/4 inch slices.
Trim the outer rind from the slice. If the slice is large, perhaps cut it into a half moon.
Dredge 1 side of the celery root in the dry flour.
Next dredge the same side into the wet flour paste.
Followed with dredging the same side through the breadcrumbs to cover that side with breadcrumbs.
While the celery slice is still sitting in the breadcrumbs, place a layer of vegan cheese on the top.
Add the vegan cold cut slice on top of the cheese.
Carefully take a spoonful of the wet flour mixture and cover the top of the vegan cold cut with the wet flour mixture. It may take 2 spoonfuls of the wet mixture to cover the area.
Next sprinkle or cover the wet flour mixture with the breadcrumbs, so that the top is also covered with breadcrumbs. You may want to slightly push the breadcrumbs on top into the flour paste so that all are evenly incorporated as the bottom of the slice is.
Do this for each of the celery root slices.
Heat a large frying pan with cooking oil.
When the oil is medium hot, carefully place the cordon bleu slices in the hot oil. I used a spatula to do this.
Fry the bottom side of the cordon bleu until it is golden brown. Then carefully turn the cordon bleu over to fry the other side golden brown.
You may want to keep the finished ones hot in the oven while you are frying the others.
Serve the cordon bleu with a lemon wedge as garish and to squeeze the juice on the cordon bleu as a condiment.

Notes:

I think 2 medium sized celery roots would be better than 1 large one because with the large one, the slices become such a big circle that they are difficult to work with, A medium sized slice is much handier to cook, and makes a nice sized serving.
If the frying oil becomes blackened with small breadcrumbs then I would suggest you clean the frying pan with paper towels and use some fresh oil. Otherwise the following cordon bleu will have to overcooked blackened breadcrumbs.
We enjoyed this with spicy potato wedges and green beans with pears and balsamic vinegar.