One Local Summer: Potato Croquettes
This post is part of One Local Summer: Week 6
Potato-and-pesto croquettes with yogurt-cucumber sauce; a side of roasted wax beans and caramelized onions
Local: organic potatoes, organic basil, organic yogurt, organic cucumber, organic wax beans, organic onions, organic garlic
Non-local: breadcrumbs, organic olive oil, organic cumin, salt, pepper
The recipes were adapted from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, a massive tome I borrowed from the library but am considering purchasing. I can’t recommend this cookbook enough, even though it skimps on accompanying photographs. The best part is the section on commonly used vegetables, which Madison lists alphabetically, along with information about differentiating among varieties, storage, and preparation—terribly useful when you find yourself faced with bag of greens from your CSA (kohlrabi, anyone?), with no clue what to do with them.
The yogurt-cucumber sauce, which you keep refrigerated, is wonderfully cooling and the perfect companion for fritters and croquettes. Here’s my modified recipe:
Yogurt Sauce with Cucumber and Cumin
Makes about 1 1/2 cups
- 2 cups yogurt
- 1 small cucumber, peeled if waxed, and cubed
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
- salt to taste
- freshly milled white pepper to taste
Stir all ingredients in a bowl and let stand at least 15 mins for the flavors to develop.
Victoria E said,
August 5, 2007 at 5:07 pm
Mmmmm, carbs :) That cookbook has piqued my interest as well; I’ll have to check it out.
meranie said,
August 5, 2007 at 6:11 pm
Thank you for that recipe. I make a liter of yogurt every week and I always have a hard time eating it (especially because the hub doesn’t eat anything I do…), so I’ll try this as well. =D
Liz said,
August 5, 2007 at 8:28 pm
Yummy!
Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone is my favorite cookbook EVER. I can’t recommend it enough.
Eunice said,
August 5, 2007 at 10:00 pm
hahahaha. i’m laughing because that was the first cookbook i looked into when i first went to farmers market. and it stuck on me ever since :) another cookbook on a similar tone is aliza green’s starting with ingredients, although she doesn’t give as many recipes as madison.
i also have a very old paperback (1950s) called “The Kitchen Garden Book” by Stringfellow Barr and Stella Standard. It basically tells you how to grow each vegetable and has recipes for each of them. It’s great because it doesn’t feel outdated at all.
kelley said,
August 6, 2007 at 7:29 am
i have deborah madison’s Vegetarian Suppers, which I like very much, though her idea of a “simple supper” and mine are somewhat different. it’s a great inspiration, though, especially with chapters laid out by type of meal and season. i’ll have to see if we have Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone at my library.
melanie said,
August 7, 2007 at 12:34 pm
And now I am really, REALLY hungry. I’m going to see if I can get that out of my library too.