Potato, cheese and ham croquettes

Whenever there’s leftover cooked potatoes from a roast, this is my current favourite way to use them up. You get lovely crunchy breadcrumbs on the outside with soft cheesy centres. For a veggie version, just substitute the ham for some fried diced onion or leek.

Boiled or mashed spuds are the easiest to use but baked just need scooping out of the skins and roast benefit from a quick pulse in a processor before you start. Often I use a mix as that’s what’s left after a roast.

Put the potato in a bowl and give it a good mix together with a masher. Grate in some strong cheddar or parmesan then add chopped ham or a rasher of cooked bacon. Fried diced chorizo is pretty good too.

Bring the mix together with a fork then form into sausage shapes with your hands. It’s useful to square off the sides a little so that they’re easier to turn in the pan while shallow frying. Chill them in the fridge for at least 20 minutes so that they set.

To make the coating, get three bowls ready – flour, beaten egg, breadcrumbs/panko.

Roll each of the croquettes in flour, then coat completely in the egg before covering in breadcrumbs. Pop them back in the fridge ideally.

Fry them off in a little oil over a medium heat to make sure that the breadcrumbs don’t burn before the insides have reheated all the way through. If they’re catching, take them out of the frying pan and finish them off in a medium oven.

They are very good indeed with a fried egg.