Potatoes are always the perfect side dish for any occasion.

Introduction: Potato Croquettes

When we were making the menu for Christmas Eve, I was super insistent that I was making Fried Mashed Potato Balls. I made some mashed potatoes maybe two nights before, and in my mind, I just wanted to do something creative with the leftovers and also with the giant bag of Panko breadcrumbs in our pantry.

When my family saw what I was making, she said –isn’t this a potato croquette? And apparently it was. We learn something new every day. And every year, for that matter.

See Lazy Kitchen Ep. 21: Christmas Chocolate Chip Cookies

A croquette is a small roll of chopped vegetables, meat, or fish, fried in breadcrumbs. In this case, it’s a roll of savory mashed potatoes.

Ingredients: Potato Croquettes

I’ll also write down the ingredients and recipe I used to make simple mashed potatoes.

Ingredients for mashed potatoes to make ~5 cups of mashed potatoes

• 1.1 kg of potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 100 g of unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup of milk, as needed
• Salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients for potato croquettes

• 1.5 cups of leftover mashed potatoes
• 2 tbsp spring onion, minced
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated
• 30 g of bacon liempo (or any meat), minced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 egg
• 1 cup of seasoned breadcrumbs
• Cooking oil

Mashed Potato Recipe

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

This is a super simple recipe for mashed potatoes. I think the key is really in heating the butter and the milk, then adding them separately.

1. Boil the quartered and peeled potatoes in salted water for 10 minutes, until they’re tender to fork test. (You can poke the potatoes with a fork with little resistance, but they’re firm enough to still keep their shape). Drain and set aside.
2. Mash the potatoes with a potato masher. Personally, I just used a fork.
3. Melt the butter and set aside.
4. Heat the milk and set aside.
5. Combine the butter with the mashed potatoes using an electric mixer.
6. Slowly blend in the milk into the butter-potato mix until you get your desired texture. It should be smooth and creamy.
7. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
8. Enjoy (with steak or meat or pasta or whatever)!

Potato Croquettes Recipe

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 25 minutes

1. Cook the garlic and minced bacon liempo. Set aside.
2. Mix together the leftover mashed potatoes, green onion, cheddar cheese, bacon liempo, garlic until well-incorporated.
3. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. In two separate shallow bowls, place the egg and the breadcrumbs. You can season the breadcrumbs with more salt and pepper.
5. Scoop some of the mashed potato mixture into your hands and roll into a ball. Coat in egg then in panko. Repeat until you finish the mashed potato mixture.
6. In high heat and a lot of oil, deep fry the potato balls in batches until golden on all sides. If your heat is high enough, this should only take 2 to 3 minutes. Be careful not to fry in low heat as the croquettes would tend to fall apart the longer you cook. You’ll end up with empty breadcrumb balls.
7. Drain the potato croquettes onto a paper towel-lined plate.
8. Season with some salt. Garnish with parsley.
9. Serve and enjoy!

I would say this is also vaguely healthy. Just thinking it about, there are a lot of food groups represented in one bite-sized morsel of potato goodness…

Until next time!

❤️ Your resident kitchen gremlin

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