Bubble and squeek croquette
I honestly have no idea why these croquettes are called bubble and squeek… unless you count the ‘noise’ they make when you put them in the hot oil. And it bubbles too then, but that is more the oil bubbling then the croquettes right, so why…?? No idea..
The croquettes were supposed to accompany our lovely ham, but we decided against it. They are lovely but…. also quite filling and considering the amount of work that goes into them we figured that there are better options out there. We also tried the creamy leek tart which is a real winner. I didn’t take any photos of the cream tart, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.
The making of these croquettes was not without trouble; the mash was too moist which was partly my fault but that made it very hard to make them into reasonable shapes and even harder to roll them through egg, breadcrumbs and flour! Especially when rolling them through the egg, they almost fell apart. So I ended up with croquettes in very strange shapes… 🙂 Too big in any case. If you’re interested in making these, then by all means do, as they are very lovely, but make them fairly small and count to have one or two per person. That is really more then enough of these filling little darlings. The recipe below will make about 20-25 in small sizes I think.
Bubble and squeak croquettes
Ingredients
- 50 gr butter
- 200 gr onions sliced
- 8 rashers back or streaky bacon chopped
- 1/2 large cabbage or few handfuls sprouts, shredded
- 500 gr leftover boiled or roasted potatoes mashed
- 200 gr leftover roast turnip parnsip or carrot (any leftover veg really. I used the celeriac I had leftover from the soup). Roughly chopped, then mashed
- 2 eggs beaten
- 200 gr plain flour well seasoned (!! do not skip that part!) plus a little extra for shaping
- 200 gr fresh white breadcrumbs
- 2 eggs beaten with a pinch of salt and a little water
- vegetable or sunflower oil for frying
- Melt the butter in a pan, then fry the onions and bacon together for 10 minutes until the onions are soft and the bacon has started to color. Add he cabbage or sprouts to the pan with a good grinding of black pepper. Stir well, then add a splash of water and cook, covered, for 5 mins more until tender.
- Tip the potatoes and cooked veg into the pan, then mash really well. Mix in the eggs, then season to taste. Turn onto a floured surface, flatten out, then cut into squares about the size of a scone. Roll each piece into a cigar shape about 10 cm long and the width of a 2 euro coin. Cool.
- Roll each croquette in the flour, then in the egg and finally in the breadcrumbs. Put onto a tray and chill for at least 1 hr.
- Heat oven to 190C. Heat a 5mm depth of oil in a large frying pan; then, once crumb turns golden within a few seconds. shallow fry the croquettes in 2 batches for 2 minutes each side, turning carefully. Drain on kitchen paper and transfer to a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Bake for 15 mins or if making ahead, cover and chill for up to 2 days. To reheat, give them 15 mins in the oven at 190C until hot through and crisp on the outside.
Disclaimer
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.
Now I just have to share a couple of winter photos that I took; the above one is taken today and as you can see by the pile of snow on the table… we did get a lot of snow!! Unfortunately; it is going to melt starting end of day tomorrow and at christmas the weather forecast says ‘no snow’…. 🙁 Such a shame!! I had a wedding on friday and the couple is crazy about christmas, which is why they wanted to get married in december. We met two times before and the last time we met before the wedding; we actually started fantasizing about the possibility of having snow at the actual wedding. At that point in time it was really quite unlikely to happen, but…. two days before they got married the white fluffy stuff started falling and stayed. So for me that was also a first; a white wedding!!! Doesn’t it look beautiful??
It was a very cold day but also very beautiful and I have loads of gorgeous shots which I will eventually post somewhere but the couple is on a short honeymoon (to Vienna) and I don’t want to show the world the photos before they have seen them first ofcourse… 🙂
I have one more dish for christmas to show you and that is our dessert, which moved from Italian icecream to Pannacotta with cranberries… A little less filling again… 🙂
