🦃 Turkey Croquette Benedict 🍳
This Turkey Croquette Benedict recipe is the fanciest in this cookbook. It is a simple process, but several steps are involved. That is why I have rated it a four out of five on the meatball difficulty scale. However, if you prepare this recipe in advance and take your time, you will find success making this dish, even if you are new to cooking. Your friends and family will surely be impressed if you prepare this for them.
Croquettes come from French cuisine, their name comes from the French word croquer (to crunch). They are fried cylinders, balls, or patties of minced vegetables, seafood, or meat bound together by mashed potato or béchamel sauce. I have adapted and combined this recipe with Eggs Benedict to create a unique low-carbohydrate culinary experience.
Feel free to experiment by substituting the ground turkey with any other ground meat, seafood, or vegetables, such as potatoes. You need to bake the potatoes first. Side Note: I would only use potatoes for a special occasion or if you’re in a bulking phase of your health path. You could replace the parmesan cheese with your cheese of choice to create a distinctive flavor or substitute the parsley for another herb.
A food processor can be used to mince the garlic and onion but this can also be achieved by hand without much difficulty. Sometimes it’s more work to clean the food processor than to mince by hand. However, if you end up mincing by hand, make sure to chop them into tiny pieces. Use a box grater for the onion if you have one. If you do this right, the garlic and onion will seamlessly be incorporated into the croquette, and no chunks will be easily spotted.
It’s vital to refrigerate the mixture before cooking for at least thirty minutes, but you could refrigerate it overnight if preparing in advance, as suggested. As the mixture warms up, that fat starts to melt, and the mixture will become mushy and extremely hard to work with, especially during dredging. For this reason, you must cool the mix before frying.
Before frying up your croquettes, you must set up a dredging station. Starting with the turkey mixture on one end, then the scrambled egg in a bowl, a plate of pork panko, and at the end, ideally, your stovetop with a frying pan. You will also want to have a baking sheet with a cooling rack or paper towels nearby to place the cooked croquettes to avoid them getting soggy after frying. Setting up your dredging station in this order will streamline the process so you can knock them out like a pro.
You can store the cooked croquettes in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to a week, but I recommend cooking the eggs and preparing the hollandaise sauce just before serving this dish.
I have included an accompanying recipe for the hollandaise sauce below.
To serve the dish, place a croquette on a warm plate and place a fried or poached egg on top. I will ad a link here for my Perfectly Poached Egg recipe when avalable. Pour a portion of hollandaise sauce over the egg and garnish it with a sprig of parsley.
Turkey Croquette Benedict Recipe
Difficulty Level: 4 out of 5 Meatballs
Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Cook Time: 8 Minutes
Servings: 2
- 1 pound of ground turkey
- 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1⁄3 teaspoon of pepper
- 1 medium white onion, grated
- 1 garlic clove, minced fine
- 2 tablespoons of parsley, minced
- 1 tablespoons of sage, minced
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup of pork panko
- 2 tablespoons of butter
Place all ingredients except 1 of the eggs and half of the pork panko in a medium-sized bowl and mix until well combined. Refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes.
Prepare the hollandaise sauce and then keep warm.
Divide the ground turkey mixture into 4 parts and form each into a ball, then flatten it to make patties.
Scramble the reserved egg in a bowl wide enough to hold a patty and spread the reserved pork panko on a small plate. Set up your dredging station, starting with the patties, then the egg, and finally the pork panko.
Place a skillet over medium-high heat and add a tablespoon of butter.
When the skillet is hot but not burning, dip one of the patties into the egg and place it in the pork panko. Flip the patty over to get the other side and place it in the hot skillet.
Cook for 1 minute on each side or until cooked through.
Place on a paper towel and continue this process with the remaining patties.
To serve, place your croquette on a warmed plate, place a poached egg on top of the croquette, and cover with hollandaise sauce. Garnish with parsley and serve immediately.
| Nutritional Facts: (Per Serving) Calories 660 Protein 79g Fat 30g Total Carbohydrates 14g |
Hollandaise Sauce
This traditional hollandaise sauce recipe is decadent and delicious; if you follow the directions, it is easy to make. It’s easy to mess it up too, so continue reading this section for some pro tips.
Hollandaise sauce is a thick, creamy, yellow sauce made from egg yolks and butter and flavored with lemon juice. It is one of the most well-known sauces and can be modified for various dishes.
If your butter is too hot, it will scramble the egg. If you add the butter too fast, your sauce may not come together, and the end product will be more granular or less smooth. This is why you must pour the melted butter as slowly as possible; drop by drop is an excellent place to start, especially at the beginning. Getting your butter to as close to two hundred degrees as possible will slowly cook the yolk without overcooking it.
Using a blender, food processor, or an emersion blender will make producing this recipe much easier, but you can do it by hand if that’s all you have. Well, you’ll need a whisk, but I digress. If using a food processor or an emersion blender, follow the recipe as usual.
If making by hand, use a small saucepan over the lowest setting on your stove, and instead of blending, you will use your whisk to incorporate the butter. If your pan gets too hot, cool it off by placing it in cool water and then back to the stove.
The hardest part of this recipe for novices will be separating the egg yolk from the white. To do this, set out two bowls and gently crack an egg over one bowl. Separate the shell into two halves and pour the egg whites into the bowl. Over the bowl, transfer the yolk between the shells until all or most of the whites have been removed. Finally, place the yolk into bowl number two and repeat with the rest of the eggs. Do not discard the reserved egg whites. You can use them for many other recipes. Plus, you paid for the whole egg, so why only use part?
Once you have added about half of the butter, the sauce should be thick and creamy. If it separates, you can try removing the sauce from the blender and, with the blender on high speed, adding the mixture back in very slowly. This technique may save your sauce. If not, start over. You will get it, and this sauce is worth it.
You can do so much with hollandaise sauce. Eat it on a burger patty or a steak.
Customize the recipe by adding some fresh herbs or a dash of your favorite hot sauce, if you’re feeling spicy. You can even add tomato paste to create a Choron sauce that is great for meat and egg dishes. You can do so much with such basic ingredients and your imagination. This is one of the main reasons I love cooking. You can make it your own and experiment to find what you like best.
With this recipe, you could make a Béarnaise sauce by replacing the lemon juice with a reduction of wine vinegar, dry white wine, shallots, and tarragon. This goes great on steaks!
This recipe is best served fresh but can be stored in an air-tight container in the fridge for about three days. You must be very careful not to break the sauce when reheating. The best way to do this is to use a microwave on the lowest setting for fifteen seconds, followed by fifteen seconds of rest. Mix and test the temperature and repeat as needed.
Hollandaise Sauce
Difficulty Level: 2 out of 5 Meatballs
Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Cook Time: None
Servings: 4
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
- 4.5 ounces of melted butter
- ¼ teaspoon of salt
- Pinch of pepper
Melt the butter in a microwave or in a saucepan on the stove. It should be close to 200 degrees.
Add the egg yolks, salt, pepper, and lemon juice in a blender pitcher. Cover and blend at high speed for only a few seconds.
With the blender still on, remove the lid and pour the melted butter slowly until nothing is left. You can discard the white milk solids at the bottom of the butter.
Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
Serve immediately or keep it in a warm place if made in advance.
| Nutritional Facts: (Per Serving) Calories 272 Protein 2g Fat 29g Total Carbohydrates > 1g |