Add Texture To Croquette Filling By Incorporating Pasta

Croquettes are a practically perfect food. When you take a bite, a golden, crunchy exterior gives way to a warm, soft interior typically made of meat and vegetables. The center can consist of everything from ham and cheese, to leek and mushroom, to potato salad. To give your signature recipe even more texture, try incorporating your favorite pasta.

Depending on which noodles you love the most, there are a few different ways to make these types of croquettes. You can form your pasta into balls or pulverize it in a food processor, or you can cut up squares of a makeshift pasta casserole. Each option will result in a similar dish, meaning chunks of chewy pasta fried in a crispy, golden batter. While smoother croquettes, like versions made with mashed potatoes, are more of the melt-in-your mouth variety, these bites provide a little more substance. Plus, you can contrast the noodle texture with gooey ingredients like provolone or mozzarella cheese for the perfect mashup of creamy and chewy. If you've ever had breaded toasted ravioli à la Trader Joe's, you know how enjoyable fried pasta can be. And when you incorporate noodles into a traditional French or Roman croquette, you get an extra delicious combination.

There are different techniques for making deliciously chewy pasta croquettes, yet they all involve cooking and draining your noodles first. After that, you have a few options. You can use the food processor to make a filling with pasta, eggs, breadcrumbs, cheese, and any other mix-ins. Form scoops of the mixture into balls, coat them with more breadcrumbs, and fry. This method will give you the softest texture of them all, and may be the most similar to other types of croquettes.

If you want the chewiest consistency possible, you can essentially make fried pasta balls. This involves dividing up your cooked noodles and forming them into ball shapes before dredging them through flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs, and frying. This may work best with a longer noodle, like spaghetti, which you can easily form into little nests. However, some recipes rely on gelatin to help everything stick together. Finally, you can whip up a makeshift pasta casserole with noodles, cheese, flour, milk, and egg. Once the mixture has chilled, it can easily be cut into squares and fried. No matter which option you go for, feel free to add as much cheese, bite-sized veggies, or meat as your heart desires for optimal texture.