Recipes & Food Styling

Celery Root Schnitzel

On this rainy Saturday, my house is filled with the fragrant scent of fabulous beautiful celery root! I loved the Celery Root Sandwich at Little Park in NYC in April 2015, and within a few months mom & I found some celery root at a farm near Athens, Wisconsin so we could try making some. We made celery root schnitzel for our October 2015 “Root for Fall” Thymekeepers meeting. The Celery Root Schnitzel turned out amazing, & when I spotted nice beautiful celery root at the store the other day I had to give it a go again. Little Park sous vides their celery root so the texture is like a perfect breaded chicken fillet. But you don’t have to run out & get special equipment to make this- I honey-roasted slices of the celery root before coating it in breadcrumbs & frying it. I quick-pickled some honey crisp apple slivers & whipped up some of my mom’s Beet Top Pesto (fantastic!) (demonstrated at 2017 Pesto Fest at Monk Botanical Garden in Wausau, Wisconsin).

Celery root is SO nutritious: Vitamins C, K, B6, phosphorous, potassium & fiber! Beet tops: Vitamin K, copper, manganese, iron and calcium.

Beet Top Pesto

“No set recipe: Just have fun with it!” In your food processer, pulse together 3 cups beet greens (use some of the stems!) and desired amounts of parsley, basil (gotta have it), pink Himalayan salt, lemon juice, Parmesan and Romano cheeses, GOOD extra virgin olive oil and pine nuts (she substituted walnuts).

Celery Root Schnitzel 

Clean and peel three large celery roots. Slice into four slices about 1/4-inch thick each. Mix together 1 tablespoon honey, 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, 1 teaspoon pink Himalayan sea salt, 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Generously coat each slice of celery root in oil and honey mixture. Lay slices flat on baking sheet & roast in oven for 90 minutes at 300 degrees.

Remove celery root from oven. Whisk three eggs. Coat each slice of celery root in the eggs, and then coat each one generously in bread crumbs. Fry in frying pan on stovetop in 1/2 cup olive oile and 4 tablespoons butter. Flip when browned on one side. When browned on both sides, remove and place on paper towel to soak up as much grease as possible.

Quick-Pickled Honey Crisp Apples

Mix together 1/2 cup white wine vinegar, 1 cup extra virgin olive oil, 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon pink Himalayan sea salt. Cut 2 honey crisp apples into slivers and cover with pickling mixture. Set in fridge while preparing other items.