Butternut squash croquettes, Part II

The first time I posted these, I mentioned that the squash "meatballs" were a little wetter than you might be used to making meatballs or crabcakes. Then it occurred to me -- hey, maybe we don't really need the egg here. And vegans wouldn't want the egg. So I tried leaving out the egg. No problem. The squash is plenty moist. In fact, mashed squash would probably work just fine as a substitute for egg and oil in some recipes, as long as the egg wasn't needed for leavening in a baked good.

So, all you really you need:
about 3 cups of cooked squash cubes, preferably roasted. Mash it.
one-fourth of an onion, chopped fine, or a shallot, minced. I had leftover onion, so I used it. If you really hate onion (and you know who you are), leave it out. Maybe you would put in finely chopped celery? I dunno.
salt
pepper
olive oil
other seasonings: I used paprika and a dash of cayenne pepper.
Crackers, smashed to crumbs. I will say it again: Use crackers that you like to eat. I used some fairly highly seasoned ones, because that's what I had, and am likely to always have. They are Trader Joe's "Bite Size Everything Crackers ( with garlic, onion, sesame, poppy and caraway seeds). If I were using a bland cracker, I would season the cracker crumbs, maybe more paprika, pepper, garlic powder.

If you have cooked the squash earlier and refrigerated it, put it in a bowl on the counter for 30 minutes or so, so it gets closer to room temperature. That's mostly for comfort, because you will be getting your hands in there.

Make the cracker crumbs. I think I forgot to say before that when you put the crackers in a zipper plastic bag, close it most but not all of the way and squish as much air out as you can before closing it and start rolling the crackers to make crumbs. Otherwise you will have a stupid pillow of air in your way. But I remember that I said an empty wine bottle works as well as a rolling pin, and it does! Just roll across the bag until you have a bag of cracker crumbs. You can re-use the bag and keep leftover crumbs. If you don't use crumbs a lot, keep them in the freezer.

Mash the squash. I still think a sturdy fork works best. I tried a potato masher, which kind of works, but I still had to get out my fork. Of course you could use a blender or food processor, but then you'd have something else to clean, wouldn't you?

Add the onion/shallot and stir with the fork. Make sure your hands are clean and get in there and smush it around some more. Start rolling into balls about 1-1/2 inch around. Meatball size, you know?

Pour some of the cracker crumbs into a bowl and roll the squash "meatballs" one at a time around in the crumbs. You might have to use one hand to roll them, or you might perfect the technique of rolling the bowl around until the squash croquette is coated. No big deal either way. (Another method is to drop them into the plastic bag of crumbs and shake until coated. Downside, however, is that you can't keep those crumbs until next time, as they are tainted now and might start growing nasty things. I'd rather wash a bowl -- it goes in the dishwasher anyway -- and be able to re-use the plastic bag. Your call. )

I ended up with 18 croquettes. You might get a few more or less. No big deal.

Heat about 2 Tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet, preferably cast iron, and get it pretty hot. Add about half of the croquettes, one at a time, making sure there is plenty of room between them, because you will need to roll them around to brown all sides. But not yet. Let them brown for at least 30 seconds before you touch them. Then roll them 1/4 way, wait, and again. Until they are brown all around. Then do the next batch. (You might have to add more olive oil before adding the next batch -- I did. If you do, let the oil get hot before trying to cook in it.)

OK, that's it. I didn't even try to dress these up with a green and red vegetable and/or fruit because -- it's SQUASH. It is what it is. It's already good for you. The only fat is olive oil, and maybe whatever is in the crackers. And according to the label, that is 0 transfat and 0 saturated fat. Just some poly- and mono- saturated. 1 gram per serving of poly, 4 grams per serving of monosaturated fat. I used maybe 2 servings of crackers for all 18 croquettes, which would easily serve four people. Plus at the most 4 Tablespoons of olive oil, total, for all 18.

You could serve as an hors d'oeuvre, or with pasta, or with a salad. I kind of like them as a late-night snack. And I'll bet you've never thought of squash as a late-night snack before.