I love the idea of turning leftovers into new dishes and snacks, but its not something I do enough of. I am always wanting to make something new. Sometimes the leftovers will make a good lunch, sometimes they just sit awkwardly in the fridge. Generally, when we are over-run with awkward leftovers, Mr. will wait until he is home alone and then collect all the tupperwares he can find, put their contents in a bowl together, add some baked beans, and tuck in.
I figure there has to be a better way. If you take a little time to look into it, leftovers can often be used for nice tapas-style snacks like croquettes, samosas or fritters.
This particular recipe came about on a day when I found an awkward amount of leftover mashed potato sitting in the fridge, not looking very enticing to be honest. Determined to do it justice, I decided to make some simple potato croquettes and finish them off with a hollandaise sauce- the choice of sauce somewhat influenced by the fact that the croquettes provided me with a leftover egg yolk which needed to be used somehow- but I decided to lighten it by using olive oil instead of butter, and threw in some truffle oil for an added kick.
My leftover mashed potato was full of chives- if yours is plain, why not add some crispy garlic or basil to give it a little extra flavour?
P.S. I know what you’re thinking- the amount of dishes requiring truffle oil on this blog is out of control. It’s true. Its just a phase, I am sure. It will pass. The thing is, I bought a big ol box of truffle products as a Christmas gift to myself and it includes the best truffle oils I have ever tried. And I Just. Can’t. Stop. This is the funny thing about blogging- all your phases and obsessions become painstakingly clear when you look through your recipe history. So humour me this once more and then I will stop for a while, I promise.
Potato Croquettes with Truffle Hollandaise
Ingredients
For the croquettes
- 1 cup leftover mashed potato
- 1 egg white
- A few spoonfuls flour
For the hollandaise:
- 1 Tbsp white wine
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 Tbsp olive oil, avoid extra virgin- the flavour is too strong for this
- A few drops of white truffle oil
- A couple grinds of salt
Instructions
- Make the croquettes
- Remove the mashed potato from the fridge and shape into 3 or 4 croquettes, about the size of a small sausage.
- Separate your egg- set the yolk aside, and put the white into a bowl.
- Roll the croquettes into the egg white, and then roll in the flour to form a coating.
- Heat some olive oil in a pan- enough to completely cover the bottom of the pan, but you don’t need to be drowning in it. Cook the croquettes on medium heat for about 8 minutes, turning regularly to get them evenly brown on all sides.
- Leave them in the pan while you quickly mix up the sauce…
- Make the sauce
- Here’s the thing with hollandaise- you want to warm it up enough to taste good, but if you heat it too much the egg yolk will get hard and clump up. So don’t put it on direct heat- Boil some water in one pan, and hold a smaller pan over the steam. You could also rest a glass bowl over the pan of water, if you have bowls the right size.
- First put the wine and the egg yolk into the pan and whisk continuously while it heats up. It will start to get a little frothy. Add the olive oil, bit by bit, and keep whisking. Grind in some salt. Whisk some more.
- The sauce will thicken a little, and froth. Once it’s the right consistency for you, whisk in a few drops of truffle oil.
Pour the sauce over the croquettes, grab a fork, and dive in.
Equipment
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