Table Talk » Leftover Makeover: Baked Potato Croquettes

Remember me? I'm back after a very long absence. My last update was before Thanksgiving. The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is always busy, add in the NH ice store that took away our power for 8.5 days, we got power back 4.5 days before Christmas. And then there was Christmas, and New Years. You know how it goes.

Today I made potato croquettes for the first time. My mother used to make fried potato cakes from leftover mashed potatoes when I was a kid. In fact, they were the only way that I ate mashed potatoes. I wasn't a fan of mashed potatoes the first time around, but I loved my mom's potato cakes made from leftover mashed potatoes.

I had some leftover mashed potatoes with corn and chives in the fridge, so I decided to make baked potato croquettes from them. I looked up a few recipes on the web and found a few that baked, rather than fried the croquettes. All of them added egg to the potato. I started out with potatoes that I had mashed with sour cream, then stirred in fresh minced chives and defrosted frozen corn kernels. (I served them with a southwestern meatloaf earlier in the week.). I had about 4 cups of potatoes left. I mixed in 3 eggs and some chili powder. I wasn't sure how many eggs to add, the mixture was a little too loose, so I added in a small handful ot panko. Two eggs would have been perfect.

To form the croquettes, I used a 1/2-cup measuring cup to scoop up the potatoes, then formed them into a large, flat patty. Some of the recipes I saw called for forming the patties, then refrigerating them before rolling them in bread or cracker crumbs. My patties were holding together well and I'm impatient, so I seasoned some panko with sweet hungarian paprika and coated the patties with the panko mixture.

To bake the croquettes, I lined a sheet pan with nonstick foil (I love this stuff for oven frying), sprayed the foil with olive oil spray and placed the croquettes on the foil. After spraying the tops with more olive oil spray, I baked them in a preheated 400 oven for 25 minutes. The panko coating is golden and crispy and the potato centers are nice and creamy.

This is a great way to use leftover mashed potatoes. They are forgiving and the seasoning can easily be adapted to complement whatever you are serving them with. I bet they would be great with some cheese. Or how about curried potato croquettes or cumin-scented croquettes?

Posted January 10, 2009 6:04 PM in Test Kitchen, Tips, Techniques & Tools

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5 Comment(s)

Marcy Kaminski said… (on January 10, 2009 at 19:16 PM #)

...or cinnamon-scented mashed sweet potato cakes, or parmesan and rosemary yukon gold potato cakes! I bet you could make these G-F too. You are SO creative Chef Patti. :)

Patti said… (on January 10, 2009 at 19:23 PM #)

Marcy, I was thinking the same. I'd used gluten-free breadcrumbs like Gillian's Food Plain or Italian Bread Crumbs to make it gluten-free. They have a crunchy consistency that is like panko.

I like the idea of sweet potato croquettes. I roast sweet potatoes before mashing them. Doesn't require any attention, plus doesn't add any additional water.

Patti said… (on January 10, 2009 at 20:29 PM #)

Yum, the potato cakes were even more delicious with some of the sauce from the salmon that I served them with. That recipe is here: http://www.anastasiastable.com/TableTalk/2007/07/salmon_for_supper.html

Martha said… (on January 11, 2009 at 09:57 AM #)

Those look wonderful! It's good to see you back at "blog central."
Have you ever made Chicken Croquettes? A client has requested and I'm stumped.

Patti said… (on January 11, 2009 at 10:40 AM #)

Martha, these were my first ever croquettes. I poked around on the web for Chicken Croquette recipes, there are a lot of them out there. Someone mentioned that Joy of Cooking (which I don't own) has a good recipe. Since this is old-fashioned food, I checked my circa 1980 Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook and found a recipe. You make a white sauce, add cooked chicken, parsley, onion, lemon juice, sage, egg. Chill, form into croquettes, then coat with breadcrumbs and fry them in an inch of oil. I'd bake them like I did the potato croquettes, rather than frying them. These ones are served with a mushroom sauce. I'll email the recipe to you.


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