Cheese + Bacon = Delicious

Goats Cheese and Bacon Croquettes

These cheesy morsels are delicious at any time but go especially well with drinks particularly if you make them canape sized. It’s also a way of turning leftover mashed potato into something wonderful. 

I have used gluten free breadcrumbs and flour but just replace as you wish.

Make a large batch of these in advance of a party and warm them in the oven just before serving.

Ingredients

Makes about 30 croquettes
3 large baking potatoes, peeled, cooked and mashed.
2 rashers of smoked bacon, finely chopped
6 fresh sage leaves
Salt and pepper
4 slices gluten free bread
Oil for frying, about 2cm in depth
1 goats cheese log, about 125g
2 eggs
Knob of butter

Method

• Peel and chop potatoes and boil in salted water until cooked through. Drain and mash with a little butter and leave to cool.
• In a separate pan, fry off the finely chopped bacon with 2 chopped fresh sage leaves. The bacon pieces should be golden and slightly crispy.
• Add bacon to the mashed potato, season with salt and pepper to taste and leave to cool completely before adding crumbled goat’s cheese. Mix lightly
• Blitz the bread with the remaining sage leaves until breadcrumbs, dry out in a hot oven until lightly browned, in a hot oven this will only take 2 or 3 minutes. Leave to cool.
• Assemble all the ingredients, you will need a plate for the breadcrumbs, a bowl with a beaten egg and a plate with some plain seasoned flour.
• Check seasoning and shape mash mixture into small cylindrical shapes about 2cm long. Roll each in flour, then egg and finally breadcrumbs until all are coated.
• When all the croquettes are ready heat the oil (if you are using a deep fryer to 160 degrees) in a deep frying pan use a medium heat. Fry in batches of no more than 5 until golden brown. These will take about 5 minutes to cook.
• Drain on kitchen paper and serve warm, I like to dip in a little chilli jam to spice things up.

Serve with wine and friends. Let the festivities begin, more party recipes to follow soon