Mid-Week Meal Idea: Croquettes

This was my first attempt at making croquettes. They're probably not so much a meal but more an accompaniment, a party nibble or as the case was for me on the weekend a simple Sunday night-I-don't-feel like-much-but-need-to-eat-something food. I happened to have the deep fryer on the bench from the day before so I thought I'd use that again. I ate mine with homemade aioli and homemade tomato sauce.

This is how I made my croquettes.

 500g potato

1 egg yolk

10g butter

1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup grated cheese

a few sliced of chopped ham

1/4 cup flour extra

1 T milk

1 egg

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

oil for deep frying

Boil potatoes then mash together with egg yolk, butter, flour, cheese and ham. Season with salt and pepper. Recipe said to cover and refrigerate at this stage, but I didn't. Using floured hands shape handfuls of the mixture into cylinders about 2cm thick and 8cm long (but really any shape or size would be fine). Dip the croquettes in combined egg and milk then roll in the breadcrumbs (I used panko crumbs which go extra crispy and crunchy). Again the recipe said to refrigerate at this stage but I didn't. Heat oil in a wok, saucepan or deepfryer and deep fry the croquettes in batches until browned lightly. Drain on absorbent paper.

I made 20 croquettes with this amount of mixture.

A variation would be to mix some pesto into the dough and mould the croquettes around a small square of mozzarella.