How to Make Croquettes

I have been making croquettes — or little fried cakes — for a long time now. They are always popular, and for me they are comfort food. I usually make them with mashed potatoes or beans. It didn’t occur to me that I could use another vegetable until I found Mark Bittman’s recipe for spinach croquettes. But then I realized that the basic croquette is a versatile recipe that can be adapted quite freely. And since it requires cooked vegetables, it is the perfect vehicle for using up leftovers.

Last night I made croquettes with leftover cooked kale. They were surprisingly good, and even the baby ate three small ones. I would also try making them with other greens, artichoke hearts, broccoli, carrots, corn, peas, sweet potatoes or winter squash.

I served them dry, though, which I would amend for next time. Croquettes really need some kind of sauce to be complete. My husband suggested hollandaise sauce, which would be quite decadent and delicious. But even something as simple as a pesto, salsa or aioli would work. But even without the sauce, they are yummy and very quick to make. If you have time to chill them beforehand, all the better.

Basic Croquettes

Yields: about 6 croquettes

• 2 cups cooked vegetable, either mashed or chopped fine
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• ½ cup cheese, grated
• ¼ cup breadcrumbs, plus more for cooking
• seasonings of your choice: chopped onion, fresh herbs, seasoning mix, etc. plus salt and pepper to taste
• 4 tbsp. oil
• ¼ lb. cooked, flaked fish or ground meat (optional)
• Hollandaise sauce, pesto, salsa, aioli, or other mayonnaise or dipping sauce to serve

Combine the vegetable, eggs, cheese, breadcrumbs and seasonings in a bowl, and mix well. Add the meat, if using — these will make the cakes more of an entree than a side dish. If the cakes aren’t holding together, add more breadcrumbs. If they are too dry, add more beaten egg to bind.

Form the croquettes into cakes. You should have at least 6, or you can make mini-cakes to get more. Lay on a sheet of wax paper on a plate and cover with wax paper. Chill for at least half an hour and up to a day.

Heat the oil over medium-high. Dredge the cakes in breadcrumbs. When the oil is shimmering, fry the cakes until well browned, about 5 minutes per side. You may have to cook the cakes in batches depending on the size of your pan.

Serve with the dipping sauce on the side.

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• Mashing Vegetables Beyond Potatoes (simplycooking.wordpress.com)

Mashing Vegetables Beyond Potatoes

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Lately, I have been experimenting with mashing a wider range of vegetables than the standard potato. And why not? The baby loves mashes, even when he’s turning his nose up at vegetables in general. For adults, they are comfort food. Everyone’s happy.

What is the difference between a mash and a puree? Generally, purees are smoother, more like baby food consistency, and in our house at least, we don’t like to eat them as side dishes. I prefer to use a puree as part of another dish, such as a soup or dip. I mostly puree in the food processor so I can choose from a wider range of vegetables (such as broccoli, mushrooms and eggplant, to name a few), although I will occasionally use a finer sieve in the food mill to puree.

I always serve mashes on their own as sides. I like to leave mashes a little chunkier than purees and to enrich them with butter and cream, milk, buttermilk or sour cream — whatever I have on hand. If I am serving the mash right away, I use a potato masher to make quick work of mashing the vegetable and mixing in the additions. If I am planning to serve the mash later, I’ll use the food mill with its coarsest sieve instead, and I’ll mix in the butter and dairy when I’m reheating.

For mashed potatoes, choose the russet, white or Yukon Gold varieties. These varieties have more starch and are better suited to mashing, although I will mash large red potatoes, if that’s what I have. Other vegetables that mash well are carrots, celeriac, parsnips, peas, sweet potatoes, turnips and winter squash.

A new vegetable often benefits from being mashed with potatoes so it’s not entirely unfamiliar. Mashed potatoes and celeriac (or celery root), for instance, has a wonderful nutty flavor. The baby likes mashed vegetables like turnips and winter squash mixed with cooked apples — not a favorite of mine, but if he’ll eat it, I’ll go for it. I like to experiment with strong flavor additions to enliven a mash. Salsa, pesto or herb purees, roasted garlic and cheese are all great additions to try.

Here is the basic technique:

1. Select the vegetables you want to mash and pre-cook them. Most vegetables can be peeled, cut into chunks and  boiled until tender. You might choose to bake starchier vegetables, such as russet potatoes, sweet potatoes and winter squash.
2. If you are serving the mash immediately, transfer to a large bowl. Add ½ tbsp. butter and 1 tbsp. cream, milk, buttermilk or sour cream per serving (just eyeball it). Salt and pepper to taste.
3. Using a potato masher, mash until the vegetables are the desired consistency, the butter has melted and the cream is incorporated. Mix in any other flavorings with a rubber spatula.

If you are not serving the mash right away, omit the butter and dairy. Use a potato masher or food mill to mash the vegetables, and either freeze or store in the refrigerator. Before serving, add the butter and dairy. Reheat over low until heated through, stirring frequently.

Mashed vegetables, including potatoes, can be frozen. Usually, I freeze them without the butter and dairy, which I add when reheating. To freeze as individual servings, scoop the mash into muffin tins. Once frozen, store in ziploc freezer bags, and just remove the number of servings you need.

Glazing Vegetables

Glazing vegetables is an extremely useful technique for punching up an otherwise boring vegetable side dish. I used to avoid recipes that used this technique, because I associated glazed vegetables — specifically, carrots — with a sugary, syrupy sweet dish. If I wanted to eat dessert, I’d have ice cream.

But I was wrong. The traditional method for glazing requires very little or no sugar. The technique relies on reducing a flavorful cooking liquid, such as chicken stock, to a glaze and thickening it with butter. While this technique works very nicely on carrots, many other vegetables can also benefit from it, such as brussels sprouts, pearl onions, sweet potatoes, turnips and winter squash. The other night, I made some delicious green beans also using this technique. So I encourage experimentation.

Here is how you do it:

1. Prepare the vegetable by slicing or cutting into bite-sized pieces, if necessary.
2. In a large skillet, add the vegetable, a pat of butter (about 1 tbsp.), salt and just enough good (preferably homemade) chicken stock to halfway cover.
3. Bring the liquid to a boil.
4. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer the vegetables until tender, adding a little more liquid if necessary.
5. When the vegetables are done, raise the heat to medium-high and add 1-2 tbsp. butter. If desired, stir in 1-2 tbsp. sugar.
6. Stir until the liquid reduces to a glaze coating the vegetables; there should be very little liquid left, and the glaze should be thickened and browned.
7. Remove from the heat and stir in a couple of teaspoons of lemon juice to finish.

Simmering: A Technique for Cooking Flavorful Vegetables

There are probably two main ways we all learned how to cook vegetables with liquid: boiling and steaming. But both of these techniques have disadvantages. Boiling vegetables in a lot of water often yields overcooked, mushy results that many of us remember (and hate) from our childhoods. And steaming all too often lets the flavor and moisture escape into the air rather than keeping it in the vegetables.

Lately, I have been simmering vegetables in an attempt to retain moisture and flavor without cooking the vegetables to death, and I’ve loved the results. Simmering is a hybrid of boiling and steaming that takes advantage of the best aspects of both.

Simmering involves cooking vegetables in a smaller amount of liquid than boiling them, and at a lower temperature, enough to keep a gentle simmer going. The pot is covered, trapping the steam and cooking the vegetables in less time so that their vibrant colors are retained.

Liquids other than water can be used to add more flavor. My favorites have been chicken stock, apple cider and orange juice. Flavorings can also be added to the liquid, such as soy sauce, herbs or garlic. Once the vegetables are cooked, if you like, raise the heat, uncover the pan and reduce the cooking liquid to a sauce to retain every bit of flavor.

Here are the basic steps for simmering vegetables:

1. Cut the vegetables into smallish pieces, if necessary, such as cubes.
2. Add the vegetables to the pot with enough liquid just to cover them halfway.
3. Add a pat of butter or a small amount of olive oil, salt and other seasonings as desired.
4. Bring the liquid to a boil.
5. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover the pot and simmer until the vegetables are just tender (see below for suggested cooking times).
6. If desired, uncover the pot, raise the heat and let the liquid reduce for a sauce.
7. Serve as is or with the cooking liquid, or toss with a vinaigrette, flavored butter or a little lemon juice and fresh herbs.

Not all vegetables lend themselves to this cooking method, but many do. Here are some of my favorites:

• Simmer less than 5 minutes: asparagus, bok choy, corn (off the cob), green beans
• Simmer 5-10 minutes: artichoke hearts, broccoli florets, brussels sprouts, carrots (baby or cut into rounds)
• Simmer 10-15 minutes: cabbage, summer squash, baby zucchini
• Simmer 15-30 minutes: new potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, winter squash

Simmered Squash with Asian Flavors

This is a very simple recipe that uses the technique of simmering. Simmering is different from boiling in that a lot less liquid is used. By the time the squash is cooked through, most of the cooking liquid will have boiled away, and the flavors in the liquid will have infused the squash. So the trick is to use enough liquid to cook the squash but not so much that you have a lot of liquid left over at the end. This is mostly a judgment call depending on how much squash you are cooking, but as a general rule, it is better to start with too little and add more as you go along.

Simmered Squash with Asian Flavors

Serves: 2
Time to make: ~30 minutes

What you need:

• 2 cups winter squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 tbsp. sake
• 2 tsp. garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp. ginger, minced
• scallion greens, minced, for garnish

1. Add the squash to a pot with enough water to cover the squash halfway
2. Add the soy sauce, sake, garlic and ginger to the pot
3. Bring to a boil
4. Cover, reduce the heat and let simmer until the squash is tender and mashes easily, 20-25 minutes
5. Garnish with minced scallion greens

Notes:

I used butternut squash, but any winter squash will do. Japanese squashes would be well-suited to this dish.

Start with ¼ cup water and check the squash frequently as it cooks. If it’s looking dry, add a little more water.

How to Roast Vegetables

It has turned cold and wintry here this week. The wind is whipping the leaves off the trees, and when I walked my dog this morning, I had to break out my hat and gloves. I expect we’ll have a few more days of this and then we’ll get our Indian summer, which is the bonus we get for living in North Carolina. Until then, though, we’ll warm our tummies with roasted vegetables.

Roasting is a great method because it is low in fat but high in flavor. The sugars in the food caramelize, turning vegetables into candy. I like to use this method for two kinds of vegetables: those with a lot of water, as the dry heat draws out the moisture and intensifies the flavor; and firm vegetables, which become sweet and tender after a slow roasting. In the first category are asparagus, eggplant, mushrooms, summer squash and zucchini. In the second are carrots, onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes and winter squash.

Recently, at the exhortation of Cook’s Illustrated, I tried roasting green beans. They came out shriveled and ugly, but they tasted so sweet. We gobbled them right up. This only goes to show that every now and then you’ve got to try an old method on a new ingredient and see what happens.

Here’s the standard guide for roasting vegetables:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees
2. Cut your vegetables into fairly large pieces, cubes or chunks or thick slices
3. Toss the vegetables with a little oil
4. Spread the vegetables out on a baking sheet (covered with aluminum foil for easier clean-up) and put them in the oven
5. About halfway through the cooking time, shake the pan to redistribute the food or turn each piece over, if you’re the patient sort

This is a good time to add seasoning or herbs, which may burn if added at the beginning of the cooking time.

6. They’re done when they are browned and tender

The only variation to this method is the time each kind of vegetable needs to roast, which is something you learn as you go along. Just keep checking and use your common sense. Firmer vegetables need longer to cook, while thinner vegetables like green beans and asparagus will require only 15 minutes or so. If you’re roasting a lot of vegetables together, which is a very simple and good side dish for any meal, you may have to add them at different times to get them all to come out done together.