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Celeriac schnitzels with brown butter, tomato and caper sauce

By: Claire Thomson

Published: 12 Aug 24
Updated: 9 Oct 24

Celeriac schnitzels with brown butter, tomato and caper sauce

Claire Thomson gives classic schnitzel a vegetarian makeover. Roasted celeriac slices are drenched in seasoned buttermilk, breaded and fried until golden. Serve with her next-level tomato salad.

Claire says: “As with so many fried things, what you really need is something to serve alongside to cut through all the crunch and those delicious oily flavours of fried crumb, and (please bear with…) this does involve more butter! Make the sauce of brown butter with just-collapsed cherry tomatoes, capers, parsley and lemon, and you’ll find the brown butter complements the faint nuttiness of the celeriac.”

Recipe taken from The Veggie Family Cookbook by Claire Thomson (Quadrille £30) and tested by delicious.

Easy
August 2024

Test kitchen approved

Serves 4
Hands-on time 30 min. Oven time 25 min

Claire Thomson gives classic schnitzel a vegetarian makeover. Roasted celeriac slices are drenched in seasoned buttermilk, breaded and fried until golden. Serve with her next-level tomato salad.

Recipe taken from The Veggie Family Cookbook by Claire Thomson (Quadrille £30) and tested by delicious.

Vegetarian recipes

Nutrition: Per serving

Calories: 627kcals
Fat: 30g (13g saturated)
Protein: 18g
Carbohydrates: 67g (6.4g sugars)
Fibre: 8.2g
Salt: 1.1g

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Ingredients

2 celeriac, peeled and cut into 1cm thick slices
Olive oil to brush
150ml buttermilk
2 garlic cloves, crushed
200g plain flour
3 large free-range eggs, beaten
200g dried or panko breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil or sunflower oil to fry
Bunch watercress or rocket
New potatoes, steamed and buttered, to serve (optional)

For the sauce

75g unsalted butter
2 tbsp capers, drained
10 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 lemon, halved
Small bunch parsley, leaves picked and finely chopped

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Method

Heat the oven to 180°C fan/gas 6 and line a baking tray with baking paper. Put the celeriac slices in a single layer on the baking tray and brush with oil. Season with salt and black pepper, then roast for 20-25 minutes or until tender. Set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, mix the buttermilk with the garlic and a pinch of salt and pepper. Tip the flour into a shallow bowl, put the beaten eggs in another and the breadcrumbs in a third.
When the celeriac is cool, dip each piece in the garlicky buttermilk, then the flour, then the eggs, then finally the breadcrumbs, pressing down lightly to make them stick.

Heat a few good glugs of vegetable or sunflower oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. In batches, fry the breaded celeriac slices until golden brown and crisp on both sides (about 2-3 minutes per side), then transfer to a baking sheet lined with kitchen paper to blot up any excess oil.
While the celeriac cooks, make the sauce. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Add the capers and tomatoes and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have slumped a little. By this point the butter should be browned and smelling nutty. Remove from the heat and stir in the juice of half the lemon with half the chopped parsley.
Serve the celeriac topped with the butter sauce and sprinkled with the remaining parsley. Finish with the remaining lemon half cut into wedges and the watercress or rocket on the side. Enjoy with steamed, buttered new potatoes, if you like.