Louise's tuna and sweet potato croquettes

These oven-baked croquettes with hidden veg are good for you! Using lemon juice in the pesto means you can use less oil, but still have plenty of flavour.

• 500g sweet potato, peeled, coarsely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 185g can tuna in springwater, drained
• 20g (1/4 cup) parmesan, finely grated
• 1 tablespoon fresh continental parsley leaves, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons wholemeal plain flour
• 90g dried breadcrumbs (bought or homemade from toasted bread)
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon milk

Spinach pesto

• 100g baby spinach leaves
• 2 tablespoons pinenuts, toasted
• 40g cashews, roasted unsalted
• 1 small garlic clove
• 60ml (1/4 cup) olive oil
• 1 lemon, rind finely grated, juiced
• 2-3 teaspoons water

Energy 1497kJ	Fat saturated 4.00g
Fat Total 19.00g	Carbohydrate sugars g
Carbohydrate Total 29.00g	Dietary Fibre 4.00g
Protein 15.00g	Cholesterol mg
Sodium mg

All nutrition values are per serve.

1. Step 1

   Line a baking tray with baking paper. Place the sweet potato and garlic in a saucepan. Cover with cold water. Bring to the boil over medium-high heat. Cook for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain well. Return to saucepan. Mash until smooth. Set aside to cool.

2. Step 2

   Combine the tuna, parmesan, parsley and potato mixture in a large bowl, breaking up any large chunks of tuna. Season well. Shape 2 tablespoonfuls of the mixture into 7cm-long croquettes.

3. Step 3

   Place the flour and breadcrumbs in separate shallow bowls. Whisk together the egg and milk in a shallow bowl. Roll each croquette in flour and shake off excess. Dip in the egg mixture, then in breadcrumbs to coat. Place on prepared tray. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 1 hour to firm.

4. Step 4

   Meanwhile for the spinach pesto, place the spinach, pinenuts, cashews, garlic, oil, lemon rind and 2 tbs lemon juice in a food processor and process until smooth, adding a little of the water to thin the mixture, if necessary. Season.

5. Step 5

   Preheat oven to 200C/180C fan forced. Spray croquettes with olive oil. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden and crisp. Serve with the spinach pesto.

If you have leftover cooked fish in the fridge, you can use that instead of canned tuna.

Freeze uncooked croquettes in a lined airtight container for up to 1 month. Defrost overnight in the fridge before baking.