kumara & blue cheese balls with honey toasted walnuts

Alrighty then – this is not my standard kind of recipe in that it was literally made with left-overs I had in the fridge, and therefore I can’t give you the exact quantity of potatoes and kumaras required to make your mash – but I can give you the precise amount of mash:cheese ratio and what else you need to do, as well as the gig for the honeyed walnuts (detailed when you click the recipe link). I love recipes like this – when you open the fridge door and are forced to get inventive, and with such delicious results. The sweet, fluffy kumara mash has a lovely fried, crispy exterior but an oozing, melty blue cheese centre – sprinkle with a little sea salt, pop a couple of sticky, crunchy honeyed walnuts on the side and a bitter leaf or two, and call me happy 🙂

As it is Saturday morning I am posting this from my usual spot (in bed) with my second massive cup of tea. The weather is looking decidedly grim outside so I’ll be off to yoga rather than a walk this morning, then it’ll be back home and into prep for Monday’s Cuisine shoot, as well as a wee bit of other work to be done…I suppose it is the advantage/disadvantage to living alone, there is never really a time when I’m not working – apart from yoga/walking. Not much else to report really – life is settling down for Pog now that he is in a new routine at his latest (and last for a while I hope) flat and Rich is doing yoga (three from three!), exercising, studying and raising money for Leukaemia research by doing Shave for a Cure – by shaving his head. That doesn’t sound too dramatic, except that his hair is well past shoulder length, long, tawny blonde, cascading and gorgeous…so – a big deal! If you fancy checking out what he is doing the link is here. Right then, up and at ’em – have a great weekend. Oh – and don’t forget to check out my competition to win a Nescafe Dolce Gusto coffee machine here.

3 tbsp runny honey

Right – I use a combination of agria potatoes and kumara for my mash, as the kumara tends to be wetter and more fibrous, and I prefer the consistency you get with a mix of both. Whenever I make mash I go the full monty with plenty of butter, cream and whole milk and sea salt and black pepper. If people are coming for dinner I will go to the extra effort of putting the veges through a potato ricer, but if it’s for family, not so much.

You will need 10g of blue cheese to every 40g of mash. Whisk the eggs in a flattish bowl and put the breadcrumbs in a separate bowl. Take big a tablespoonful of mash (40g) and poke the cheese (10g) into the middle of it. Gently squish the mash around the cheese into a ball, and coat in breadcrumbs. Put on a tray lined with baking paper and repeat with the rest of your mash and cheese. Next dip each ball into the egg so that it is well coated and roll again in the breadcrumbs – repeat with the remaining balls. Chill the balls for an hour and up to 6 before cooking.

Put the walnuts in a frying pan and dry fry over a medium heat for a couple of minutes. Drizzle with honey and cook a few minutes more until golden, sticky and delicious. Heat the coconut oil (solid when cold) in a saucepan so that it is deep enough for the balls to be fully submerged when cooking. Do one ball as a tester to check the oil is hot enough that it cooks in about a minute (or a little more) then cook 4-5 balls at a time, for just a few minutes until golden brown. Serve with a few greens if you fancy, and some golden honeyed walnuts.