Herbed skordalia croquettes

At his Greek restaurant, David Tsirekas serves these croquettes with ouzo-spiked mayonnaise. Potato and garlic are a match made in heaven, in this recipe the addition of lots of dill and serving the skordalia as a croquette makes it irresistable!

• makes

  30

• prep

  1 hour

• cook

  40 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg (about 6) desiree potatoes, peeled, halved 
• 120 g butter, chopped, at room temperature 
• 80 g sour cream, at room temperature 
• 5 garlic cloves, crushed 
• 1 cup dill, finely chopped
• 1 cup celery leaves, finely chopped
• flour, for dusting
• 200 g (2 cups) packaged breadcrumbs 
• 170 g (1 cup) polenta 
• 160 g (1 cup) fine semolina 
• 400 g plain flour 
• 8 eggs, lightly beaten 
• vegetable oil, to deep-fry 
• lemon wedges, watercress and good-quality mayonnaise, to serve

DRINK Domaine Gerovassiliou Malagousia white wine, Epanomi, Greece 

Freezing time: 30 minutes

Chilling time: 20 minutes

Instructions

Place potatoes in a saucepan of cold water, bring to the boil and cook for 20 minutes or until tender. Drain and return potatoes to the saucepan. Add butter, sour cream and garlic. Using a potato masher, mash potatoes until smooth. Stir in dill and celery leaves and season with salt and pepper.

Shape 2 tbsp of potato mixture into a ball, then mould into a 5 cm-long cigar. Repeat with remaining mixture. Dust cigars with flour and transfer to an oven tray lined with baking paper. Place in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm.

Place breadcrumbs, polenta and semolina in a large bowl, season and stir to combine.

Place flour, eggs and breadcrumb mixture in three separate shallow bowls. Working quickly, dust croquettes with flour, shake off excess, then dip in egg and coat in breadcrumb mixture. Place on a plate and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Fill a deep-fryer or large saucepan one-third full with vegetable oil and heat over medium heat to 170°C (or until a cube of bread turns golden in 15 seconds). Working in batches, gently drop croquettes into the oil and fry, carefully stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes or until crisp and golden.

Remove croquettes with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel. Sprinkle with sea salt and serve with lemon wedges, watercress sprigs and mayonnaise.

As seen in Feast magazine, Issue 11, pg98.

Photography by Alan Benson and Jason Loucas

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.