Serves: 6 though it’s probably best to say this makes about 18 croquettes and you decide how many that serves

Prep time: 40 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

These crispy little delights take a fair bit of effort but are absolutely worth it. They are surely the best way to eat mashed potato. They give a roast dinner a real lift and put any shop bought option in it’s place. I’m pretty sure this recipe clinched the deal when I proposed to Katie.

You will need:

450g potatoes (Maris Piper work well) peeled and diced

2 tbsp or 30g creme fraiche

30g mature cheddar cheese grated

10g salted butter

80g milk ( I weigh rather than measure for accuracy but 80g milk is the same as 80ml)

1/4 – 1/2 tsp salt

60g Panko breadcrumbs

50g Plain flour

1 egg

Oil for deep frying

Making it:

In a medium sized pan, cover the diced potatoes with cold water and set over a medium heat. Simmer them until just cooked through and then drain them. Allow them to steam themselves dry for a minute or two.

If you were to cook your potatoes at 85°C the starches won’t turn gluey as you work them. However at this temperature they’ll take at least an hour to soften. As such for this recipe I suggest you just simmer them and then don’t work them too much.

Using a ricer (or a masher- just get them smooth) crush the potatoes into a mixing bowl and mix in the creme fraiche, 30g of milk, and the butter. Add the cheddar – 30g is not much but it adds an extra savouriness, use more if you want them cheesy. Season the mix and then shape your crockits.

For ease you can pipe the mix into lines and simply cut it to equal lengths. However, if you’re going to the effort of making your own crockits I think it’s worth taking a bit of time to quenelle them. They don’t have to be perfect and smooth as they’re getting breadcrumbed.

The link below demonstrates briefly how to quenelle.

Allow the crockits to cool on a tray. If the mix feels too soft to handle, just pop them in the freezer until firm.

In separate bowls set up the flour, egg (plus remaining milk) and the breadcrumbs.

Beat the egg and milk together.

One at a time flour the crockits and return them to the tray.

Dip them in the egg-mix and then drop into the breadcrumbs. Roll in the crumbs until evenly coated.

Set a tall sided pan over a medium heat and pour oil in until approx 2 cm deep. Once the oil is hot enough to brown a cube of bread in about 10 seconds you’re ready to cook. Carefully place the crockits into the oil in batches of 3-4 and fry until golden. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and allow excess oil to drain off on kitchen paper or a cooling rack. Either eat them straight away or flash through a hot oven for 10-12 minutes to be ready with the rest of your meal.

Variations:

There are so many ways to play around with these. Try different herbs chopped into the mash or infused in the creme fraiche to make them really compliment whatever you serve them with.