Sweet Potato Croqettes

I love sweet potatoes. 

Sweet potato fries, casserole, mashed sweet potatoes, pie....

ahhhhhhhhhhh 

I took my love one step further and make these Sweet Potato Croquettes.  

This is a Southern recipe, though I've also seen 'Fried Yam Balls' in African cooking.

They are reminiscent of hush puppies, though hush puppies contain much more breading.

And if you don't know what a hush puppie is, you need to take a trip down south and find out. 

Anyways, these  are delicately crispy on the outside, soft sweet potatoes on the inside.

These would be perfect for an appetizer for a party, or served as a side to dinner for a little added fun-n-crunch.  I could see them being added to a brunch menu too.

I made these the day before- I roasted the sweet potatoes and added all the ingredients but bread crumbs and eggs.  The next day, I simply added the crumbs and eggs, and fried.  

I fried these in extra-virgin olive oil.  No they weren't slimy at all, as you may think would happen from frying in olive oil.  The fact is, olive oil's smoke point is 410 degrees.  When deep frying, oil is  somewhere between 250-350 degrees.  That means you most certainly CAN fry with olive oil- in fact it is healthier, and frys things a bit more delicately if you ask me.

You can use peanut oil or even vegetable oil if that's what you have on hand.

I'm pretty sure using leftover mashed sweet potatoes, adding the bread crumbs and egg, would work just great too!

Burger with Carmelized Onions and Gouda with Sweet Potato Wedges

Since taking the job at Restaurant Alba and not going into work until 4pm, I have started preparing my boyfriends lunches... and dinners.  Yesterday I made some simple burgers which were consumed before I could take photos.  This recipe takes about an hour to make.

Man Burger with Carmelized Onions and Gouda

with Grilled Sweet Potato Wedges

1 lb ground beef (I used 90/10)

1 yellow onion, diced

1 tbls Worcestershire

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

a few drops liquid smoke

1 sweet onion, thickly sliced

1/4 cup Brown sugar

2 Sweet potatoes, cut into wedges

2 tbsl butter, 

1 tbsp olive oil

ground pepper

sea salt

Gouda cheese

Vienna Rolls, purchased

Preheat grill, med heat.  Leave one burner off.

Mix beef, yellow onion, worcestershire, onion and garlic powder, and liquid smoke together and form into large patties.  Apply a liberal coating of freshly ground black pepper to both sides of each patty (don't be shy with the pepper!) 

In a bowl, toss the sweet potato wedges with olive oil and a generous amount of seasalt (about 1 tbsp).

Add sweet potato wedges to grill over med heat.  They will need about 45 minutes, depending on how thick the wedges are.  Flip them over after 20 minutes.

When flipping the sweet potato, it's time to add the sweet onions to the grill.  You will need a pan safe for the grill (I had a circular heat safe pan) Add the butter and onions to pan, and plan on grill over the burner that is turned off.  Wait a few minutes for the butter to melt, and stir in the brown sugar.  Let the onions caramelize, stirring fairly often.  Keep an eye on them, you don't want the butter and onion to burn.

When the potatoes are getting soft and the onions a deep tan color, add the burgers to the grill, and flip only one time.  Do NOT press down on the burger with a spatula to speed cooking, this releases the juices and makes for a drier burger.  Top with gouda cheese to melt.  

Toast the vienna rolls if you like, and when finished, top the burgers with the caramelized onion and serve with sweet potato wedges.  Enjoy!

I will be posting the recipe for 

Crusted Pork Tenderloin 

with Pineapple-Papaya Guayabo Salsa tomorrow!