Papitas Rellenas con Jamon • Breaded Potato & Ham Balls

I made these strictly by chance with leftovers. Over the weekend I had ground some ham in the hopes that I would get enough impetus to make croquetas. I had made mashed potatoes for supper the night before and had plenty left over. My will to make croquetas quickly faded. That night I stared at the ham and the mashed potatoes. Ah ha! I will join these two in matrimony and make little papas rellenas (stuffed potatoes), but to stuff them just seemed sooooo time consuming.... It couldn't hurt to mix the ham into the potatoes after I sauteed some onions and put it all together? Indeed it couldn't, and thus I proceeded.

• 1 1/2 cups ground ham (this is appoximate, I wasn't thinking blog, so I didn't measure)
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 3 1/2 cups mashed potatoes made a day before (not too soft –– again I didn't measure)
• flour
• 1 egg, beaten with a couple tablespoons of water add
• bread crumbs (but alas, I had no breadcrumbs... I had oat meal flour and it seemed appropriate)
• oil for frying

Sautee your onions and mix in your ham. Let cool in a large bowl. Add the potatoes and mix. Form small balls in the palm of your hands with about one tablespoon of your mixture. Refrigerate these for at least one hour.

Take out three bowls. Pour flour into the first, the egg wash into the second and your bread crumbs (or in my case, oatmeal flour) into the third. Pass your potato ball through each, completely coating all around and transfer to a plate. You can refrigerate them at this point, freeze them or fry them.

Heat 1/2 inch of oil in a heavy skillet. Drop your potato balls in one by one turning with a slotted spoon until golden. Fry these in batches. Transfer to paper towel lined plate. Yummy. Crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle.

Since I didn't think I was headed anywhere with these, I didn't take pictures at the beginning, but you get the gist from theese.