It occurred to me that it might be useful for my November recipes to be dishes you can make for a vegetarian Thanksgiving. Whether you have a vegetarian coming for Thanksgiving dinner, or you just want to try something new, I'll suggest a few of my favorite Thanksgiving-appropriate dishes over the next few weeks. Please feel free to make requests, too. I love the challenge of tracking down and trying out new recipes.
This week's recipe is from one of my favorite cookbooks, Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. It is for Walnut and Potato Croquettes. You can also make this dish without the walnuts, and it is equally delicious.
1 ½ tablespoons butter
½ cup grated onion
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
1 cup mashed potatoes (I prefer mashed potatoes made with Yukon Gold potatoes for this dish)
2 cups bread crumbs
1 egg
Salt and freshly milled pepper to taste
1 tablespoon chopped sage, rosemary or parsley (I think sage is best, particularly for Thanksgiving)
Vegetable oil (I use olive or canola, actually) and/or clarified butter for frying
Melt the butter in a small skillet, add the onion, and cook over medium heat until browned, stirring frequently. In a bowl, mix the onion, walnuts, mashed potatoes, half the bread crumbs and the egg. Season with 1 teaspoon salt, a little pepper and the sage. Scoop up 2 heaping tablespoons of the mixture at a time and shape into an oval. Spread the remaining bread crumbs on a plate and roll the oval croquettes in them to coat evenly.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Heat 1/8 an inch of oil in a wide skillet and place over high heat. Add as many of the croquettes as will fit comfortably, reduce the heat to medium, and cook on both sides until golden, about 10 minutes in all. Remove them to paper towels and place in the oven while you finish frying the rest of the croquettes.
They are tasty plain or topped with gravy.
