Steak & fried croquettes.
Potato Croquettes
Ingredients
- Neutral vegetable oil for frying. You need enough for at least 2" of depth in your pot.
Mashed Potato
- 2 lbs Potatoes, peeled, cut into 1" cubes
- 1/3 cup Butter, salted
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 2 tbsp cream
- 1 large egg
- 4 slices cooked bacon, chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
Inside and Out
- 3 oz Cheddar cheese, cut into 1/2" cubes
- 3 oz Provolone cheese, cut into 1/2" cubes
- 1 cup All purpose flour
- 3 large eggs, beaten
- 1 cup breadcrumbs or panko flakes
Instructions
- Boil potatoes to fork tender, and cook the bacon at the same time.
- Drain potatoes.
- Preheat the oil to around 370F.
- Add butter, salt, pepper, cream, egg, and mash it together until smooth. A hand mixer also works well.
- Stir in the bacon and parsley.
- Place the flour, beaten egg, and breadcrumbs in 3 separate shallow plates.
- Scoop out a golfball sized amount of mashed potato, place it in the palm of your hand, flatten it out, place a cube of cheese, then form a ball.
- Roll the ball in flour, egg, then breadcrumbs (completely covered).
- You should chill the balls for an hour to ensure they stay together.
- Deep fry in small batches until golden brown. You might need to roll them around to make sure they're cooked on all sides.
- Set aside on a paper towel-lined plate to cool before serving.
Notes
- Can spice up the dipping flour with 1/2 tsp paprika, salt, pepper.
- You can bake these at 400F for about 15 minutes, until golden brown.
- You can dip these bad boys in something like a smokey sour cream dip with bacon bits, paprika, salt&pepper to taste.
Pan-fried steak. The usual method of getting a decent roast, trimming it, cutting into 1.5″ steaks, salting both sides, let it chill for a while, rinse, fry in a bit of oil, finish with garlic, butter, rosemary.
For an bonus, I’ll be deglazing the pan with a bit of liquid – today is chicken stock since I have some handy, but wine, flavoured vinegar, citrus, or even water works.
Total cost for a 6 oz steak, 2 large croquettes (each pair comes with all the extras: 1/2 lb of potato, 1 large slice of bacon, 2 oz of cheese, etc) retail $26 CDN, or $6.50 per serving, or $5 USD.
My cost, since I tend to only buy things on sale, is $20.6, $5.15 per serving, or $4 USD.
That’s less than the price of a silly coffee at Starbucks. Your local grocery prices are likely different than mine, but that’s no excuse.