The potato crocket is very popular appetizer in Italy, specially at the pizzaria. While you are waiting for the pizza, they usually serve the potatoes crocchette as an appetizer. My kids also loved it as the second course, so I used to cook them a lot.

Ingredients

2.5 lb Idaho Potatoes

3/4 cup Pecorino Romano Cheese

1/4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano

10 oz Mozzarella Cheese

3 Eggs (whole) plus 3 eggs whites

5 oz Bread Crumbs

1/2 stick of unsalted Butter

1 oz Flour

Salt

Pepper

Vegetable/Canola Oil for frying

Preparation

Boil the potatoes for 1 hour.  I like to boil the potatoes with the skin and peel off the skin once the potatoes are cooked.  That is how I learned from my grandma. However, for simplicity, you can peel the potatoes before you cook them.

Smash the potatoes as you were making matched potatoes. On the warm potatoes, add the butter, and a pinch of salt.

Beat the eggs and add it to the potatoes.

Add the Romano, and the Parmigiano Cheese.

Mix it very well.

Once the mix is ready, let’s make the crocchette shape.

Cut the mozzarella cheese lengthwise as little sticks. Save it on a separate plate.

Take about one table spoon of the mix on the palm of your hand. Smash it flat to make space to add one mozzarella stick. Wrap the mozzarella stick with the potatoes mix and roll it with your hands. Make sure the ends are nice and closed so the mozzarella cheese doesn’t come out once we are frying them.

Repeat the process until it is all done.

Mix the flour and the bread crumbs on a separate plate. This will serve as the coating mix for the crocchette.

Beat the eggs whites and place it on a another plate.

Coat each crocchette on the egg white mix and then coat each crocchette in the bread crumbs. Make sure you don’t coat with too much eggs, otherwise, they will lose shape.

Once they are coated, add the vegetable oil to a fry pan.

When the oil is hot, add a few crocchettes to the frying pan carefully. Fry about 3 or 4 crocchettes at the time.

Turn them gently on the oil so they get brown evenly.

As soon as they are golden brown, remove them from the oil and add them to a plate covered with a paper towel. The paper towel will help absorve some of the oil from the crocchette.

Repeat the process until it is all done.

Place them in a plater.

Enjoy it.

Buon Appetito!