Meat-Stuffed Potato Croquettes Recipe

Serves: 6

Prep time: 60 mins

Cook time: 150 mins

Total time: 3 hours 30 mins

Here we have a recipe that’s very fulfilling in your mouths and tummies--Meat-stuffed potato croquettes. They are filled with a lot of meat and spices (picadillo), the perfect combination. You would want to make these your everyday dish. Truly, this recipe would fill you up with a kind of satisfaction that everyone would like to indulge in. You only use 1 cup of picadillo for the 6 croquettes, so you will have a lot of left over picadillo. You can serve the leftover picadillo over rice or make more of the potato mixture to make more croquettes. You wouldn’t wanna wait to try this. Read and follow precisely the steps below.

Ingredients

For the filling: 3 lbs ground beef
10 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped
2 scallions, trimmed and finely chopped
25 pitted green olives, chopped
½ cup raisins
3 tablespoons capers, drained
2 bay leaves
1½ teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 cup tomato sauce
½ cup dry sherry
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt
For the potato croquettes: 2 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
salt
3 eggs, separated
1 pinch nutmeg
¼ cup fresh parsley, minced
vegetable oil
1 cup breadcrumbs

Instructions

First, prepare the PICADILLO FILLING: Mix together beef, garlic, peppers, scallions, olives, raisins, capers, bay leaves, cumin, oregano, tomato sauce, and sherry in a large mixing bowl. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes.
In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Cook beef mixture in oil, mashing up meat with the back of a spoon, for 30-40 minutes; Season with salt to desired taste.
Make the CROQUETTES: In a medium pot with cold salted water, bring potatoes to a boil and simmer over medium heat until tender for about 25-30 minutes. Drain potatoes, then mash with a potato masher until smooth. Set aside to cool.
Beat egg yolks into mashed potatoes one at a time, add nutmeg and parsley, and season to taste with salt.
In a separate bowl, Beat egg whites and set aside. In another bowl, pour out bread crumbs.
Scoop one cup of picadillo mixture and set aside.
Spread oil in the palms of your hands, then shape ¼ cup of potato mixture into a ball. Make a deep depression/cavity in the center of each ball, and then flatten each into a 4 inches concave disk with ½ inches thick. Fill the center of each croquette with 1 tablespoon picadillo.
Scoop ½ cup of potato mixture and pour over picadillo filling to cover. Reshape and roll the concave disk into a smooth ball.
Dip and roll ball into bowl of beaten egg whites, then into bread crumbs. Repeat process with remaining potato mixture and picadillo.
In a deep skillet, heat enough amount of oil until it reaches 350 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Fry potato fritters in batches for about 3-4 minutes or until golden brown on each side. Drain on paper towels to remove excess oil.
Serve warm and enjoy!