Last week Ray and I tried our hands on another Angie’s Kitchen recipe from his grandmother’s 100 year old handwritten recipe book. This week we got to try our hand at adjusting the recipe to suit our modern palates. I’m not sure what Ray did with his, but for me, the changes I made were small, and I’m nearly there, but alas additional tweaking will be necessary before it is perfected.

If you read last week’s post, you’ll remember that this recipe was pretty decent right out of the gate. My biggest issue was that it lacked salt. This week I was very cognizant of that, and decided to make sure my water was very well salted when I boiled the potatoes, and that actually did the trick. I made sure to taste the potatoes before adding the egg, and to my surprise, the original amount of salt was enough. So, what did I change? A few things. Last week, my favorite part of the croquette was the underlying spiciness, so I upped the amount of pepper to 1/4 tsp and instead of a few grains of cayenne, I used a couple of healthy dashes! I also decided that as with most things, the croquettes would be better with cheese, so I diced some Smoked Gouda into 1 inch cubes, and placed it in the center of the potatoes. I refrigerated my potatoes for about 15 minutes before forming them into croquettes, which I think helped make them easier to shape. Oh, and I forgot to use the baking powder. I remembered that right as I was putting the first one in the frying pan. Oh, well.

Results? Well, the croquettes themselves were bigger this week to accommodate the cube of Smoked Gouda, which isn’t really a problem except for the fact that you need to eat quite a lot of potato before reaching the yummy smoked cheese. The cheese? Well, it was a delicious addition, but I would have liked a bigger cheese to potato ratio, and I want my cheese a little more melted.

It’s not perfect yet, but it does show potential. I know that I want more cheese in my next batch, and I am considering either finishing in the oven, only baking in the oven, or air frying. I’m close, but not there yet. Let’s here how things went for Ray.

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Funny that Karen ended her round 2 adventure with the thought of using the air fryer in the future, because that’s where my round 2 adventure began. Or at least where I intended it to begin. My plan was to change up the flavor of the round 1 recipe by adding sour cream and chives, along with changing the cooking method from pan frying to air frying. Sometimes these experiments take on a life of their own and there is nothing you can do but go along for (or jump off of) the ride!

As you may recall, I ended round 1 by saying that I thought there wasn’t enough salt in the recipe – simply adding more to the mix for round 2 successfully took care of that. I also thought that the round 1 croquettes were a bit too dry, and I set out to remedy that issue as well. I was once again successful – so successful in fact that what I created was entirely too wet to roll into a croquette!

Just like that, the idea of using the air fryer flew out the window, as did preparing them the traditional way. If I couldn’t roll them for the air fryer, I certainly couldn’t roll them for pan frying either. Faced with this unexpected dilemma, I needed to decide what to do next.

Should I simply walk away and write up the experience as a failure, or should I try to fix what I had created? I decided to try and fix it – what did I have to lose at that point? If my attempt to fix it didn’t turn out well, I could still write about the failure, but what if my new idea worked in some way? Then I could share that experience instead.

After some quick thinking, I decided to try and add some flour to the mix. I added 3 tablespoons and found that it did help to remove a bit of the moisture, but it was still nowhere near enough for them to be rolled and air fried. I didn’t want to add more flour than that, because I didn’t want it to turn into potato dough or have nothing but the taste of flour.

I paused to think once again, and that’s when the idea for a giant oven baked croquette was born. Once again, what did I have to lose? If it turned into a big pile of mashed potatoes when I removed it from the pan, then at least I’d still have a nice side dish for dinner! I’m happy, and perhaps still a little bit surprised, to say that it actually worked!

After grabbing a slice of giant croquette, we all gave it a try. I was happy with the flavor of the sour cream and chives, and it definitely wasn’t dry! We served it with a little extra sour cream on the side, which was a nice, although certainly optional, addition. We enjoyed it very much with our dinner that evening.

Giant Oven Baked Sour Cream and Chive Potato Croquette

• 2 cups warm mashed potatoes
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh chives
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon oil – divided
• 2/3 cup breadcrumbs – divided

Add the milk, sour cream, salt, pepper, paprika, and baking powder to a large mixing bowl and whisk together until smooth.

Add the mashed potatoes and mix together until well combined, and then add the egg and chives and mix together again until well combined.

Stir in the flour until well incorporated.

Pour 1/2 of the tablespoon of olive oil into the bottom of a 9 inch round baking pan and brush it evenly across the bottom. Sprinkle 1/3 cup of breadcrumbs evenly over the oil and then gently drop potato mixture, one tablespoon at time, on top of the breadcrumbs. Gently smooth the potatoes evenly over the breadcrumbs and then dab the top of the potatoes with the remaining half tablespoon of oil, follow by an even coating of the remaining 1/3 cup of breadcrumbs.

Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 20 minutes. After removing from the oven, immediately use a knife to carefully loosen the croquette from the side of the pan and then gently shake the pan back and forth to make sure it is loose on the bottom. Once loose, turn out onto a plate, slice, and serve.

As they say, when life throws you lemons, make lemonade – or at least try to! Sometimes as hard as we try, an initial failure in the kitchen can’t be saved, but sometimes that failure can be turned into a successful happy accident! Thanks for joining us for another Angie’s Kitchen adventure. Have a great weekend!