The absolute best use of leftover mashed potatoes is to make potato croquettes. We bread and fry them, making them nice and crispy on the outside, but retaining the flavor and creaminess of the mashed potatoes on the inside. You can eat them like french fries, complete with ketchup on the side, or enjoy them on their own.
We add the egg yolk to the mashed potatoes and stir well. In a small bowl, we add the egg white and water and whisk. In another bowl we add the rest of the bread crumbs and season them with a little salt and pepper. In the last bowl we add the flour.
We pick up some of the potatoes and roll into a cylinder. We use “standard breading procedure” to coat. We gently pat with flour, dip in egg white, and then coat with bread crumbs. The croquettes are very delicate and so we do this gently! We continue with the rest of the potato mixture, forming 8 croquettes. We place them on a wax-paper lined dinner plate and refrigerate until it is time to fry.
We pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees. In a nonstick pan, we heat a 1/4-inch of olive oil. When hot, we add half the croquettes and panfry, turning a quarter turn when the bottom is brown. We continue to turn until all sides are browned, and then we drain on paper towels. We continue with the rest of the croquettes. When done, we place in the oven to keep warm until ready to enjoy!
