Potato croquettes were always one of my favourite dishes. When I started to eat plant based and vegan some years ago I decided to try new recipes instead of “replacing” cheese or eggs. You will never get a similar taste. This is the reason why I gave up cooking croquettes as I thought I will not like them without eggs. Wrong!!! Totally wrong!!! Some weeks ago I found a recipe of eggless potato croquettes with a colourful vegetable filling, eye catching and mouth watering. This was the day I decided to make potato croquettes again. We had them warm with tons of salad (always very important for my husband and me) and I left one patty to taste it cold: what can I say? It was so good and so savoury that I am sure I will very often have it cold. Try this please!
Some lines about the potato: it came very late to Europe, the Spanish Conquistatores had brought it from South America. It was very seldom then and of course very expensive. Until this time truffles had been an elite foodstuff and were an object of courtly gift-giving throughout Italy. In Tuscany the members of the Medici family frequently exchanged baskets of truffles with one another. In the 16th century when the potato was still a relative rarity and looked similar to the truffle it was also exchanged and offered as a valuable gift.
Wash and boil potatoes for 15-20 minutes until they feel tender. Drain, peel and mash – adding almond milk, vegan butter, salt and nutmeg – with a hand blender or with a fork. Set aside.
Dice onion and garlic finely and heat in a frying pan with some oil. Only 2-3 minutes. Keep on a plate or in bowl to get it cool.
Wash, cut and grate the other vegetables. You can take of course your favourite vegetables or those you find in the fridge. Mix under the mashed potatoes, season and set aside for 15-30 minutes (in the fridge) to get the mixture cool.
For the breading put seeds and dehydrated crackers into the blender and pulse 2-3 times.
Measure 2 tbsp of the mixture, roll into a ball or flatten into a patty. Keep them for half an hour in the fridge for a better handling.
Preheat oven to 220° C without fan, 180-190° C with fan.
Put the breading into a bowl and dip each patty into the crumbs. The easiest is to do this with balls: move the bowl in a round and the balls will cover themselves. Put them on a tray lined with parchment paper and bake for about 10 minutes, flip and bake for another 5-10 minutes until they are golden brown and look mouth-watering.
Serve with salad (lettuce, kale, kraut). “Buon appetito!”, as the Medici would say.
Mouth-watering is exactly how they look !!! Just imagine the delicious smell, the crispy savoury taste … Gabriele, you are a fantastoc cook. So much to learn form you !!! I do try to cook, and being perseverant it generally goes like this: first time awful (no disgunsting descriptions here), second time quite awful but possible to eat and make conclusions (in the too-awful-step it is impossible): then (perseverant) third time quite good, then … it can improve or just go back to disgusting. A few recipes are saved and cooked again and again. Well, the awful phase is AWFUL!