Someone once told me that what is meant for me will come for me. Next thing I know, this German schnitzel showed up over and over again in my dreams and here we are. I think that’s how ideas work. They come for you like little messenger fairies from the sky, and you can grab them or you can let them float on by. More often than not, we let them float on by… but if they are truly meant for us then they will come again and again until you have no choice but to grab them. Places, ideas, people… they all come for us.
Germany holds a special place in my heart. It was the first country I was truly alone in. I remember checking into the Heart of Gold hostel with no real plans… it was one of the most liberating feelings I have ever had. To be solitary in a foreign country and eating alone in a posh candlelit restaurant… it’s the things you read about when you’re 14 and imagining what your life would become.
Celery Root Schnitzel
A classic German Schnitzel is a tenderized piece of meat breaded and fried. If we are talking Austrian Weiner Schnitzel then it MUST be made with veal (there’s literal laws about this, people). For my vegan version, I have taken one of my favorite root veggies and turned it into schnitzel. Celery Root! I am so unbelievably proud of how this one turned out. It is all the things a schnitzel should be- tender, flavorful, crispy. Before frying the celery root- I tenderize it by baking thin slices marinaded in vegetable broth. I can’t wait for you to see how brilliantly this schnitzel slices.
German Rahmsauce
I would never give you a schnitzel recipe without a sauce to go with it. I am the actual Sauce Queen. There are a few different sauce options to go with a traditional schnitzel that I listed below, however, my favorite has to be the Rahmsauce. Rahmsauce essentially starts as a roux and ends up like a brown gravy. It’s smooth and classic.
- Rahmsauce – German Cream Sauce
- Jäger Sauce – Mushroom Gravy
- Zigeuner Sauce (Gypsy Sauce) – Peppers and Tomato Sauce
- Ketchup (don’t come for me… I said what I said)
German Side Dishes
There’s so many choices when looking at German sides to go with a schnitzel. I lean towards anything revolving around potatoes because of my never ending potato addiction (yes, lets eat mashed potatoes in bed at 2am).
- Red Skin Potato Salad
- German Red Cabbage Salad
- Green Beans (in bread crumbs)
- Hasselback Potatoes
- French Fries
When something pops up in your head over and over again, I think that is a strong message that we should be going after that thing. There’s this intuition guiding us down our paths… so whether it may be making a certain dish that we haven’t been able to forget about or going into that soup shop to ask out that guy who is always catching your eye… just trust. Sometimes the dish fails. It wasn’t what you thought it was. It was just better in your head. But sometimes the dish is amazing and ends up on your blog at 2am… because you couldn’t stop thinking about it.
The universe is for me and so is everything else.
Adriene Mishler