I grew up thinking I was Northern Italian. I did not know that my dad was adopted by my grandpa Joe who was a 1st generation immigrant from Torino, Italy. I really can’t remember how I found out, I was very young, but as a tiny child that used to walk around with a tiny Italian flag, I’ll be honest- I was kind of crushed. Through swift familial reassurance, I knew this didn’t matter- I was Italian in spirit, haha. However, this did leave a lot of cultural question marks growing up. My mom’s side is Portuguese. My nana’s family came from the Azores. What we did not discover until recently is that a large part of our heritage is Basque. This, to me, was a super exciting discovery. As my sister and I said, we always knew we were spicy. ;) Funnily enough, Boise, where my family lives is home to the largest Basque community in the US- the irony! There is even an adorable portion of downtown that is the Basque district. If you get a chance to visit, it’s a real gem, especially if you enjoy tapas. If you’re unfamiliar, these are delicious small plates, that originated in Spain. There is such a huge range of what tapas encompass. In Euskera, the Basque language, these small plates are called “pintxos”, which translates to “spike”, as many pintxos are served on a toothpick. A few classic pintxo notables: We’ve got Gildas, which are pickled peppers and anchovies eaten in one bite, Txangurros, which are tiny puff pastry tartlets with crab, leeks and brandy, Tigres, which are mussels with tomato, breadcrumbs, chili and garlic, rabas aka fried squid, and often among these, you’ll find croquetas. The ingredients found amongst the potato in croquetas range widely. Some feature salty Serrano ham, some manchego, and some mushrooms.

Traditionally, croquetas involve making a bechemel sauce that gets folded into the potato mixture. While delicious, this does involve a lot of cooling down time, so I opted to create a speedier version. Potatoes get riced and combined with mushrooms sautéed with garlic and shallots, an egg, smokey paprika and tons of Parmigiano Reggiano. They get served with a very delicious, bright, garlicky, peppery, cilantro-laced aioli. When I say peppery- I don’t mean ground pepper. Cubanelle and Serrano peppers get puréed with onion and garlic, before getting combined with mayo, lemon juice, and a bunch of cilantro. It’s bright, it’s punchy, and it’s the perfect compliment to these comforting croquetas.

I must point out that this recipe is a great make-ahead recipe. It is very freezer friendly. I have actually frozen this recipe at two stages: After dredging the croquetas, I froze them overnight and fried them the next day. Another time, I froze the leftovers, and after a quick reheat at 400F for 20 minutes, they were chef’s kiss. I did vac-seal the leftovers, which I highly recommend for preventing freezer burn.

Let’s get into this perfect little pintxo.

Potato Mushroom Croquetas

(Makes Roughly 40 Croquetas)

For the croquetas:

8 small-medium russet potatoes, peeled

6 T butter, divided

8 oz baby Bella mushrooms, finely diced

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 T dry white wine

1 sprig rosemary, minced

2 springs thyme, minced

2 sprigs oregano, minced

1 t smoked paprika

3 eggs, divided

1 1/2 cups Parmigiano Reggiano, grated

1 1/4 cups flour

2 cups breadcrumbs (I like using Italian breadcrumbs for their fine consistency, but you could absolutely use Panko)

Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste

Olive oil, for frying

For the pepper aioli:

Please note: This is a garden recipe that relies on peppers. We grow our peppers, and they vary in flavor from store-bought. For example, we grow Serranos, but they are not spicy at all. If I buy I Serrano at the store, I am absolutely removing the seeds and pith, whereas I don’t need to do that with mine. If you can’t find Cubanelle peppers, Banana Peppers or Aji Amarillo are a great swap-in. If you can’t find those, a small green bell pepper and half a Serrano with seeds and pith removed make a good swap-in, too. If you’re not a cilantro fan, feel free to swap in parsley.

1/4 yellow onion

5 small-medium Cubanelle peppers, and 2 small Serrano peppers

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/3 cup cilantro

1 t lemon zest

1 T lemon juice

2 cups mayo, preferably Hellman’s

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Boil potatoes in salted water until fork-tender. Drain and return to pot, uncovered, to allow steam to evaporate. We don’t want the potatoes to retain a lot of moisture.
In a large skillet or Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium-high. Once sizzling and hot, add your mushrooms. Do not salt right away. Salt drains the moisture from the mushrooms, so they will steam rather than brown, and we want them to lightly brown. Once lightly brown, season your mushrooms with a healthy sprinkle of salt and pepper. Add in the garlic and sauté until nice and fragrant, about 20-30 seconds, and then pour in the wine. Stir until completely evaporated. Turn off the heat and allow to cool slightly.
Rice your potatoes, or thoroughly mash them. Incorporate the remaining butter. Add in the mushroom mixture, the herbs, paprika, Parmigiano, and a healthy sprinkle of salt and pepper. Mix to combine, but do not over mix.
Grab a spoon, and scoop roughly two tablespoons of the potato-mushroom mixture. I like to lightly dip my hands in water to make the situation less sticky. Work the potato-mushroom mixture gently in your hands to form small, egg-like shapes. Place each croqueta on a parchment-lined sheet tray. Refrigerate for 1 hour, or overnight. Personally, I love to do overnight if I have time. This just ensures the croquetas are extra set up prior to frying, and retain their structural integrity.
Make a dredging station. I like to use small, quarter sheet trays. I prep one each with flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs. Season each with salt and pepper. Gently roll each croqueta first in the flour, then eggs, and finally, breadcrumbs.
Place the dredged croquetas on a parchment-lined sheet tray and refrigerate another 20 minutes before frying.
Make the aioli. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the onion, peppers, garlic and pulse until everything is finely chopped and combined, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add in the cilantro and pulse to combine. Scrape down the bowl and add in the mayo, lemon zest and juice, and a sprinkle salt and pepper. Pulse to combine. Taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly.
Head some olive oil in a cast iron skillet. Test if it’s ready by throwing a couple breadcrumbs in the oil and seeing if they sizzle. I like to use a thermometer to make sure my oil doesn’t get too hot so I can manage the temperature. Fry the croquetas in batches, for about 5-7 minutes, gently flipping halfway through. Place fried croquetas atop paper towels to drain excess oil.
Serve with aioli, if using and a flourish of cilantro.

Tip: Preheat your oven to 250F and as you finish croquetas, transfer them to a parchment-lined sheet tray after draining to stay warm in the oven while you finish frying in batches.

These sweet little pintxos have layers. First, we’ve got a delightfully crispy exterior, then, and interior that is creamy from the potatoes, nutty and salty from the Parmigiano, earthy from the mushrooms, garlicky and herby. Then we’ve got our sauce that is bright, aromatic, and perfumed with peppers. Zest for days. This sauce would be delicious on everything from chicken wings (Did the legwork there, pun not intended, but very much enjoyed), to fish tacos. You’ll want to bottle it. It’s just the perfect compliment to the warm, creamy croquetas.

My mom is actually coming into town next week which we are so very excited for. She has specifically requested I reserve the remaining bag of these croquetas in the freezer for her arrival, haha! Love it. Frankly, I’ll probably need to make more between now and then because there’s no way one bag is going to do it.

Currently, I’m sitting at my desk, watching a gnarly storm, one of my favorite Texas activities. The weather is getting cozier, and I love it so much. Everything is so green, but starting to change colors. No one told me how gorgeous the Texas landscape was before I moved here and saw it for myself.

In that same cozy vein (ew), we’ve been making minor changes around our house that we’ve been planning on doing, but putting off for awhile, and it’s been happily occupying a lot of our time. It feels great to be rejuvenating a space. Design-wise, I’ve been feeling in a major rut for what feels like forever. It’s like all of my belongings of my 20s coexisting among pieces that Ben and I love and gotten together has made my aesthetic feel…disjointed. That said, we’ve done a lot of talking, thinking, planning and perusing about what we want to do and what we can feasibly do while here in this home. We’re still renting, it’s not like we can go demo-day, but there is a lot of potential refreshing to be done. What spurred this was the spontaneous crashing of our bar cart 2 Fridays ago. As we were having a casual convo, the shelf just quit life, and let me tell you…that glass was everywhere. We are STILL finding glass and man, we have thoroughly cleaned, and thoroughly cleaned again. Silver lining- I found a very cute replacement piece in a 1930s vintage dry sink. We picked it up out in hill country, Ben went to work refinishing it, and I went to work sourcing knobs, haha. Additionally, we’ve got live edge shelves from our really great friend here, Ian that we’ve been waiting for the perfect brackets and spot to hang. We are refinishing our record cabinet, which will replace our TV cabinet, which will become our new dresser/vanity in our new bedroom AKA my current office/guest room.

Ben first brought this idea up almost exactly a year ago. So often he suggests things I have no clue how much I need, and I feel very blessed by that. It’s really incredible to be with someone who knows me so well.

With that, I’m off to de-clutter and arrange my living room knick knacks amongst my new shelves and dry sink. Because, frankly, it looks like we just moved in and it’s giving me all the anxiety vapors. Wishing you the most gorgeous and cozy start to a weekend, and maybe some pintxos in your near future.