Potato & Shrimp Croquettes

As I have stated many a time, I am a huge fan of creating dishes out of random food in my fridge that I want to just use up and get rid of....and last night, I came up with probably one of my most successful fridge cleaning meals: Potato & Shrimp Croquettes.  It all started out with me realizing I had about 10 frozen shrimp in my freezer.....10 shrimp....what am I going to do with only 10 shrimp.....so I took out my trusty scale and realized the 10 shrimp were a little over 1/4 of a pound....

Ok 1/4lb. I can do something with this....I also looked to see that I had an abundance of potatoes that needed to be used soon.....ok so now I have a potato and shrimp......don't ask me how but my strange mind went to: CROQUETTES! I have made potato and ham croquettes before and I loved them, so I figured, hey why not try it with shrimp and change up the ingredients and seasonings.....and so I derived this awesome recipe which I am so happy about!

Potato & Shrimp Croquettes

(Yields 6-8 Croquettes)

4 oz Shrimp, cooked and deveined

1 Russet Potato, peeled, cooked and mashed

1 Garlic Clove, minced

1 Green Onion, Minced

1 tbsp. Unsalted Butter

1 handful Fresh Parsley

1/4 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Salt & Pepper

1 Egg

Panko Breadcrumbs

Canola Oil to pan fry

> I buy frozen shrimp all the time to keep on hand for parties and whatnot, so I guess I had leftover just enough from my last usage, to create this dish.  I personally don't like to buy the pre-cooked frozen shrimp, but feel free to, to eliminate this step.  To cook my shrimp I quickly sauteed them in a tiny bit of butter until pink.  Once cooked, I let cool, then devein them and removed the shells.  Meanwhile in another pot, cook up you potato (peel it and cut into cubes and cook until fork tender.  Once cooked, drain the water and mash the potatoes with your 1 tbsp. of butter).

> In a food processor, add your shrimp and pulse to just get a nice chop on them.

> To the shrimp, add your garlic, green onion, mashed potatoes, parsley, and shredded cheddar cheese - pulse a few times just to incorporate all the ingredients.  Taste and season with salt and pepper.

> In a small bowl, whisk your egg to make an egg wash, and on a plate add your Panko.  Form your potato/shrimp mixture into little logs and coat in egg, then roll in the Panko until completely coated.

> Set aside your croquettes on a pan and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

 > In a large saute pan, heat up some Canola Oil.  Pan fry your croquettes, flipping every so often to brown all sides.  Once golden brown, carefully remove and set on a paper towel to remove any excess oil/grease.

 I served mine with a sauce: 2 tbsp. Greek Yogurt, 2 tsp. Low Fat Mayo, 6 dashes of Cholula Hot Sauce. This was a great side dish to the steak I made - the outside is nice and crispy and the inside is soft and delicious!  You can try to experiment with different fillings when it comes to croquettes - try different cheeses, other seafoods (like crab meat), or make them vegetarian!  Enjoy!