Recipe: Potato croquettes with speck ham and marjoram

Fritters with aromatic herbs

April 28, 2009

I read that marjoram is a biennal plant... but the plants in my garden are three years old and produce many fresh leaves, so they taught me that marjoram is a perennial.
Lucky me, because I really love this aromatic herb, and its flavour is a perfect match for many ingredients: walnuts, cheese, eggs, legumes. Try marjoram in this recipe: it's a bit difficult to prepare the stuffed croquettes, but they're delicious.

A curiosity: in Italy oregano is sort of a national herb, we use it in many pizza recipes (like Vegetarian Capricciosa), and when I describe marjoram I say similar to oregano, but sweeter.
Outside Mediterranean area, I guess marjoram is more famous than oregano, which is ofted described as similar to marjoram, but stronger...

Potato croquettes with speck ham and marjoram

Ingredients
Serves four:
4 potatoes
2 tbsp. milk
2 tbsp. flour
1 onion
1 tbsp. butter
1 apple
4 speck ham slices
1 sprig of fresh marjoram
frying oil
flour to dust

Directions
Boil the potatoes in salad water, until tender. Peel and mash them with a potato masher, then add the milk and the flour.
Peel the apple and cut into thin slices.
Fry the minced onion in a pan with butter until tender, then add the apple slices. Cook 10 minutes, until creamy. Add the marjoram leaves and remove from heat.
Divide the potato puree into eight parts. Using your hands, shape them into circular patties and place them on a floured surface.
Put half speck slice on each patty, and put the apple mixture on them.
Close the croquettes, using flour when needed.
Fry in hot oil, turning frequently until golden brown.
Serve hot.

One year ago:

Herbal vinegar

This goes to Maninas who's hosting Weekend Herb Blogging.
This event was started by Kalyn's Kitchen and now it's handled by Cook (almost) anything at least once.

I'll send this also to Sindhi Rasoi for Link Potato Recipes.