My regular readers may recall me saying on a previous bread post that I’m in a bread phase right now. I’m making and enjoying all sorts of different breads recently and this often forms the main carbohydrate component of a meal. Two-day old leftovers get made into breadcrumbs and stored in the freezer until needed.
My bread phase meant that the bag of potatoes hidden in a dark cupboard was sorely neglected and started sprouting. These were not J.K. Mainland’s Shetland potatoes – the best potatoes in the whole world – I hasten to add, as they seem to be unavailable in the shops just now. They must be out of season as they always seem to disappear from the shop shelves this time of year. J.K. Mainland’s potatoes would never get neglected.
We’ve not had much summer-like weather for this Summer Solstice just passed. It’s felt more like autumn already with the cold, rainy weather we had for a few days. Perfect mashed potatoes and meatloaf sort of days. When I noticed the potatoes had started sprouting (and some had gone off and turned soupy) I thought a) how did people way back when get their home grown potatoes to last an entire winter? These rubbish supermarket variety ones sprout/liquefy a matter of weeks after bringing them home! and b) I’m going to need to cook all of these at once as to not waste them. Maybe I can get creative with leftover mash.
So I did! I found a simple recipe online for leftover mashed potato cakes and improvised a bit. I was making Nigella Lawson’s maple chicken and ribs (but I substituted the expensive luxurious maple syrup for 3 tbsp honey and they worked splendidly!) and wanted to make an accompaniment using the leftover mash, but potato cakes weren’t going to cut it.
These gorgeous crispy deep-fried calorie-intense cheesy potato croquettes, on the other hand, went down splendidly, especially with the teenage son and his friend who came over for dinner.
Leftovers croquettes can be reheated in a 220 C oven for 10 minutes and they come out perfectly crispy again! Apologies for the hastily taken photographs above. These were the reheated leftovers I was going to have for lunch which were getting cold! No time to do a classy stylised photo! Eating was needing to happen!
Since this is a frugal recipe using leftovers I’m sending it on over to the Credit Crunch Munch, a  frugal food recipe round-up by Camilla at Fab Food 4 All and Helen from Fuss Free Flavours hosted this month by the lovely Anneli at Delicieux (who, incidentally, just won the Brilliance in Blogging Award: Food at BritMums recently!) Congratulations Anneli!!
Credit Crunch Munch is  Blog Hop, so scroll down to the bottom of this post and see what other frugal foodies have been creating!
- 2 cups cold leftover mashed potatoes
- 1 small white onion, minced
- 1/4 cup Grana-Padano cheese, grated
- 1/4 cup plain flour
- 1 large egg, beaten
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups breadcrumbs
- 1 large egg, beaten with 1 tbsp cold water
- plain flour, to dredge
- 1 litre vegetable oil, for frying
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: Serves 4-6
this is a great recipe. top marks, Thanks for sharing.
Simon
I love potato croquettes, especially when they have a really crispy outside
Full of thrifty ideas here. Love it
They look so delicious!
I so badly want to grab some croquettes from the screen! I grew up eating these, leftover puree was always made into croquettes sometimes with melty cheese and chopped ham inside. It´s one of those foods I can eat all the time. They look gorgeous Elizabeth!
Thanks for the foodie compliment! 🙂 Croquettes are such a great way to use up leftover mash, I think.
I adore potato croquettes! I’ve just had a week in Menorca with lots of tapas and these would work so well as part of a spread. They are utterly delicious and addictive! And thank you Elizabeth – I am so happy to have won a Bib (most unexpectedly!) xx
A week in Menorca, oooh how amazing would that be! You’re right about potato croquettes being addictive – I’ve eaten more than my fair share of them!
Those croquettes look amazing – so crispy and golden brown – who needs chips! I often use up leftover mashed potato in potato scones – they are just so easy to make and E loves them because we can’t buy them here but he used to eat them at home in Scotland
Tatty scones are amazing, for sure. I really ought to try making my own too – have you a recipe on your blog?
I’m salivating already Elizabeth, I love these Croquettes, tasty and thrifty, thanks for entering Credit Crunch Munch with them:-)
Ooh a saliva-inducing post! I must be doing something right. 🙂