Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 leeks – white and tender green parts only, thinly sliced
- ¼ pound shiitake mushrooms – take off the stems and thinly slice the caps
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 teaspoon chopped thyme
- 1 teaspoon chopped oregano
- 3 tablespoons all purpose flour plus some more for coating
- 1 cup of milk
- ½ cup shredded gruyere cheese
- ¼ cup freshly grated parmegiano-reggiano (you could use parmesan here but not the crap in a can)
- 2 large eggs beaten with 2 tablespoons of water
- 1 ½ cups panko (it’s Japanese bread crumbs and you can get them in most grocery stores now. They’re great because they give good crunch to the outside)
- Vegetable oil for frying. NOT olive oil!
So I never bake. Ever. I love to cook but baking is all science and chemistry and I just don’t enjoy it as much as throwing stuff in pots and hoping for the best.
However, the kid is a vegetarian so we’re always trying to come up with things to eat that are more interesting than fish and salad. So we were having a family dinner and the bf asked me to whip these up while he napped and I have to say not only were they very easy but super tasty as well! The recipe is from Jerry Traunfeld and was in the February 2010 issue of Food & Wine.
Preparation
- In a large skillet melt 2 tablespoons of butter.
- Add the leeks and mushrooms and some salt and pepper.
- Cook over high heat stirring often until everything is soft and starting to brown. The original recipe said 7 minutes but mine were done in about 3 or 4.
- Add the thyme and oregano and then transfer it all to a medium bowl.
- In a small saucepan melt the other 3 tablespoons of butter.
- Whisk in the flour and cook over high heat until bubbling – pay attention! This happens fast!
- Add the milk and cook until thick and bubbling – do not stop whisking during this or you’ll be sorry.
- It says to do this for about 3 minutes but again mine was done by the 2 minute mark so pay attention.
- Mix the flour mixture into the mushroom and leek mix until it’s well mixed.
- Lay out about 18 inches of plastic wrap and spoon the mixture out into a log about 12 inches long.
- Wrap it all up into a log. It’ll end up longer than 12 inches which is fine.
- Put the log into your freezer for at least 2 hours.
Notes
So here’s where I think you could make these ahead and keep a few frozen logs on hand for dinner or as an appetizer. Depending on how big you make the final product they would make a great vegetarian dinner with a nice salad.
The actual cooking part was pretty bang on to the recipe so I didn’t change anything.
- Put the flour, beaten egg and panko into shallow bowls.
- Line a large cooking sheet with wax paper. I think I used parchment but I doubt it matters.
- Cut the log into whatever size you want. I made mine about the size of half of a mounds chocolate bar. But you can make them bigger or smaller, you’ll just have to adjust the cooking time.
- Put some flour on your hands and pat the croquettes into patties about 2 inches around and ¾ of an inch thick.
- Dip each patty into the flour, then the egg, then the panko (kinda press it a bit to make the panko stick).
- Put them back on the baking sheet and freeze for 15 minutes (I think I skipped this step. Oops)
- Get that large skillet back and fill it with vegetable oil to about ½ inch deep. I actually put about ¾ of an inch in but my skillet was very deep.
- You need a thermometer for this part. The oil has to be 375F.
- Add the croquettes a few at a time (you don’t want to drop the oil temperature too much or they’ll get soggy) and fry them until golden brown and crisp. You’ll probably have to turn them once.
- This took exactly the 5 minutes the recipe said it would.
- Drain on paper towel and serve hot. I put mine on a plate in the oven to keep them warm.
Photo Credit: Flickr user Muffet.
