Sasha's Kitchen: Split Pea and Mint Croquettes

Finally something without blueberries, huh? Is that what you were saying? Yes, I have been making plenty of other food, but the blueberries are hard to resist this time of year. My mom and I made these delicious split pea croquettes with a mint yogurt sauce during one of her visits recently. I used English pea pods from the farmer's market and removed the peas for use in this recipe - another great recipe from one of my new favorite cookbooks for cooking through the seasons - Sarah's Raven's Fresh From the Garden. Of course, this one is perfect for spring and summer. My mom did most of the work on this one, but we made it together, for some mother-daughter team cooking, and it was enjoyed by my husband, Brad as well. They're just perfect for party fritters or an appetizer to a summer meal, or at a BBQ as the fireflies buzz by on a summer night.

Sasha's Raven's Split Pea Croquettes with Minted Yogurt Sauce (makes about 15-20)
2 cups split peas or English peas
3 cloves harlic
2 onions, 1 quartered and one finely chopped
olive oil
1 T ground cumin, toasted
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
3 oz manchego cheese, grated
1 egg
1 red chile, chopped (optional) - I added a pinch of Cayenne pepper instead for a bit of flavor
salt and pepper to taste
flour for dusting

Sauce:
1 cup plain yogurt
large bunch of fresh mint, roughly chopped
2 cloves diced garlic

Put the peas in a pot with the garlic, quartered onion, splash of olive oil, three cups of water and cook, stirring occasionally, until the peas smush-up a bit, into a puree with a bit of texture, about 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool in the fridge. Mix the cold puree with the chopped onion, toasted cumin, breadcrumbs, grated manchego, egg, chile/cayenne, salt and pepper. Mix well and shape into croquettes. Dust in flour and fry in canola oil until golden brown on all sides. Drain on paper towels to absorb the excess canola oil. I always fry in Canola because its much, much healthier than vegetable oil - I don't care what any recipe says to do about that! Blend the ingredients for the sauce in a food processor with a bit of water to get the consistency you want, between 1/3 and 1/2 of a cup.

Sasha's Kitchen: Split Pea and Mint Croquettes

Sasha's Kitchen: Romaine Salad With Goat Cheese Fritters, Dried Cranberries, Pecans & Passion Fruit Dressing

Last week, I had a wonderful salad with goat cheese fritters, pumpkin seeds, boston bibb lettuce and dried cranberries at the Farm On Adderley (click here to read my review), I was inspired to create a similar salad using goat cheese fritters.  I had tried to deep fry goat cheese years ago in making a salad and it was a disaster - the goat cheese melted during the frying process. This time, I did a bit of research and learned that the process would work effectively if you freeze the goat cheese for about 45 minutes (not longer) prior to the battering and frying.  It worked, and the salad was a huge success at my Saturday brunch with our guests.

For the salad dressing, I did a unusual take on a fruit reduction vinaigrette and created my own passion fruit reduction using some Welch's passion fruit juice that I purchased at the grocery store.  The dressing was sweet but complemented the goat cheese and the tangy dried cranberries in a lovely way, and had the distinct flavor of passion fruit that I love so much.  Another note, I absolutely would have loved to use Boston (Bibb) lettuce with this salad, but it wasn't available fresh right now at my grocery stores and organic market so I had to settle for romaine, which was pretty good, as well.

Sasha's Romaine Salad With Goat Cheese Fritters, Dried Cranberries, Pecans & Passion Fruit Vinaigrette (4 salads)
Large head of romaine lettuce or Boston (Bibb) lettuce (2 heads if you use Boston lettuce)
dried cranberries
chopped pecans
8 oz goat cheese
2 eggs
dried bread crumbs (I recommend using plain bread crumbs, not Panko for this recipe)
2 cups passion fruit juice
1/2 cup canola oil

To prepare the goat cheese fritters, form the goat cheese into 12 balls.  Put in the freezer for about 45 minutes.  Remove frozen balls of goat cheese from the freezer, batter in beaten eggs, and coat with breadcrumbs.  Deep fry following the instructions for your deep fryer, or in a large pot with a couple inches of oil.  If you are using a hot pot, about three inches of canola oil and a heat setting of about 350 degrees is what my husband used (yes, it's true, Brad did the deep frying, not me because I hate deep frying!)

To make the dressing, reduce the passion fruit juice to about 1/2 a cup by heating on high for about 20 minutes or so.  Then, mix with the canola oil to form a dressing.  Assemble the salads with the lettuce, pecans, goat cheese balls and dried cranberries.  I was very happy with the reception I got from this salad from our brunch guests!

Sasha's Kitchen: Romaine Salad With Goat Cheese Fritters, Dried Cranberries, Pecans & Passion Fruit Dressing