Twisted Pork Croquettes
Course: MeatCuisine: FrenchDifficulty: Medium8
servings30
minutes30
minutes1
hourSo what’s a croquette you may ask? A croquette is described a small cylinder or patty of food consisting of a thick binder combined with a filling. In this case the binder is mashed potato. I’ve reworked this recipe and added a flavourful twist; sliced fried apples in a maple hot sauce glaze. Don’t be put off by what may appear as a strange flavour combination. Fried apples with maple and hot sauce is one of the best combos ever. This recipe is a simple tasty way to get your meat, veg in one fell swoop and tastes great to boot. That being said you can make croquettes with any type of ground meat, beef, chicken, venison etc. It also works great for left over pulled pork, shredded roast duck and canned salmon as well.
Ingredients
1/2 lb ground pork
1 lb potatoes
3 large cooking apples
1/2 tsp ground sage
1/4 cup onion diced (optional)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 cup of bread crumbs
sunflower or canola oil for frying croquettes
2 tbsp butter for frying apple slices
5 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp hot sauce
Directions
- Peel the potatoes and cut into even-sized pieces.
- Steam or cook potatoes in boiling salted water for approx. 20 minutes until tender.
- Drain thoroughly and mash well seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
- Allow potatoes to cool for 20 minutes.
- Fry ground pork in pan until lightly brown, remove from heat and drain to remove excess fat.
- Finely chop or grate 1 apple and the onion and add to mashed potato.
- Add sage to the mixture and season again if necessary.
- Add cooked ground pork to potatoes and combine by gently folding together.
- Allow mixture to thoroughly cool then refrigerate for a few hours.
- Once mixture is cold remove from refrigerator and separate into 8 portions.
- With lightly floured hands shape portions into croquettes.
- Press croquettes into breadcrumbs gently and pat with your hands to push crumbs onto croquettes. Crumbs should adhere to the outside easily. If you find crumbs are not sticking allow mixture to sit at room temperature for a while longer.
- Heat oil in a frying pan on a medium low heat,
- Test oil with a small piece of mixture for proper temperature. Mixture should sizzle immediately. If oil is not hot enough the croquettes will soak up to much oil and be greasy. If oil is too hot croquettes will burn.
- Cook the croquettes 5 minutes each side or until golden-brown.
- While croquettes are cooking, core and cut the remaining apples into slices.
- Fry apple slices in a separate pan in butter until the apples are slightly soft.
- Add the maple syrup and hot sauce to the apples and cook a further 5 minutes until a glaze forms on the apples.
- Remove apples from heat and serve over top of the pork croquettes.
Notes
- If you are using red meat you can switch your fruit up to cranberries or cherries. These offer a wonderful flavour profile when coupled with the more robust flavour that beef, venison or duck offers. The maple and the hot sauce still works with these options as well. Although adding a touch of brandy or cognac to the sauce instead of hot sauce is equally as good.
- Croquettes are most flavourful when served warmed and make an excellent leftover that can be heated in the oven the next day. They are also delicious as a breakfast addition with lightly fried eggs on the side.
- These can also be baked in the oven to reduce the fat. You will need to spray the pan and top of croquettes with oil to brown properly however.
