Recipe
4 medium Russet Potatoes
1 cup of shiitake mushrooms
1 small white onion
1/2 cup of carrots
2 cloves of garlic
1 cup of shredded smoked turkey meat (I used a smoked turkey wing)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup of bread crumbs
2 tablespoons soft cream cheese
1/2 cup of chopped cilantro
1 cup of panko
1 egg
1 cup of vegetable oil
For the gravy
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon flour
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 cups of turkey stock
Direction
Peel and cube the potatoes. Boil the potatoes until it is soft. Drain. Set aside.
Place in the food processor the mushrooms, garlic, onion and carrots. Process this to a fine consistency.
Heat a skillet on the stove and add 2 tablespoons of butter to melt. Once the butter is melted, add the mushrooms, onion, garlic and the carrots mixture to it. Mix and let this sauté for about 5 minutes.
The purpose of sautéing this is so that the onions and garlic can cook and to remove some of the moisture.
Remove the meat from the Turkey Wing or leg and pulse this as well or you can just finely chop it if you prefer your meat to be chunky.
Add the shredded meat and the mushroom mixture to the boiled potatoes. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, cream cheese, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, cumin, bread crumbs, cilantro and the heavy cream as well. Using a potato masher, mash everything together. Be sure there are no lumps of potatoes.
Once this is done, start to form small balls or patties with the mixture.
Heat the vegetable oil on the stove. Before frying make sure your oil is hot. Very important or your croquettes will be oily.
Set up your station to start breading your patties with the panko.
First dip the patties into the egg wash, then into the panko. Coat it all over. Repeat this until all your patties are coated with the panko.
Remember everything is already cooked through in the patties. So all you are doing is frying it until it is a golden brown color.
Once you are done frying place each of the patties to drain on paper towels.
For the Gravy
To make the gravy heat 2 tablespoons of butter on the stove. Once it is melted add 1 tablespoon of flour. Constantly mix this until it starts to become a dark brown color.
Once it starts to turn the color that you like your gravy to be, add in 2 cups of turkey stock, black pepper, red pepper flakes and chopped cilantro. Simmer on low and mix until it starts to thicken. Remove from heat. Taste it if it needs more salt to your liking.
Dish up a nice big croquette and pour on the gravy!
***NOTES
Instead of buying a tin of turkey stock, I usually just throw my smoked turkey wing in a pot of water to boil. Add some aromatics and let it simmer for about an hour.
Strain and reserve the liquid to use as stock and the smoked wing you shred to use in your croquettes.
