If you happen to be of European descent, there is a decent probability that you have tried, or at least have heard of, croquettes. In my own words, they’re composed of deep-fried potatoes and shaped into a log of sorts, and sometimes they’re made with a protein, for example, chicken or bacon.
Croquettes are positively delicious, and upon purchasing some from The Windmill, located in Mount Pleasant, Ontario, I wanted to look into how complicated they are to make at home. As it turns out, they’re not nearly as tricky as I thought, so I wanted to share the following recipe for Potato Croquettes, from jocooks.com, with all of you. Check it out.
“Ingredients
“Croquettes
- 3 pound potatoes (cut into cubes (I used Russet potatoes))
- 8 tablespoons butter (unsalted)
- ½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- ¼ teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 large egg
- 6 slices bacon (chopped)
- ¼ cup parsley (fresh, chopped)
- 4 ounces cheddar cheese (cut in cubes)
- 4 ounces provolone cheese (cut in cubes)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 large eggs (beaten)
- 1 cup breadcrumbs (I used Panko)
- vegetable oil (for frying)
“Dip
- ¼ teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 slices bacon (chopped)
- 2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 tablespoons parsley (fresh, chopped)
- ¼ teaspoon salt (or to taste)
“Instructions
“Croquettes
- Place the potatoes in a large pot and fill it with cold water, enough to fully cover the potatoes. Add about 1 teaspoon of salt to the water and stir. Bring the potatoes to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a medium and cook for about 15 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.
- In the meantime fry the bacon until crispy. If making the dip, fry all the bacon (8 slices in total) together and reserve ¼ of it for the dip.
- Drain the potatoes and add them to a large bowl. Add the butter, salt, pepper, milk, egg and mash using a potato masher. Alternatively, you could do all this using a mixer. Stir in the bacon and parsley.
- Prepare 3 shallow plates, one with the flour, one with the eggs beaten and one with the breadcrumbs. You can also season the eggs and flour with more salt and pepper. For a bit of a smokiness flavor you could add some smoked paprika to the flour.
- Using a small ice cream scoop, scoop out enough mashed potatoes to roll it into a golf ball size portion. Flatten it in your hand and place a cheese cube in the center. I made my cheese cubes small because I wanted to use both the cheddar cheese and provolone cheese in each croquette. Wrap the mashed potato around the cheese and you can either form it in a ball or a cylinder shape. Place on a plate or cutting board and repeat with remaining ingredients.
- Roll the croquettes first into the flour, then dip them in the beaten egg and finally roll them through the breadcrumbs, making sure they are completely covered. Place them on a plate or tray until ready to fry. You could also refrigerate them for about an hour, this will ensure that they will hold their shape, though I haven’t had any problem with them falling apart.
- Add vegetable oil to a pot so that it’s at least a couple inches deep and heat it over medium high heat.
- Fry these in batches and only fry about 4 or 5 at a time, it also depends on how big your pot is. You may need to roll them around to make sure they get golden all around. Place them on a towel-lined bowl to cool a little.
“Dip
- To make the dip, add all the dip ingredients into a small bowl and stir to combine.
- Serve the croquettes warm with the dip,” the recipe states.
Have at ‘er, folks.
Photo by Laura Munoz on Unsplash
