Rice Croquettes in the Wintertime

 Growing up when the snow started falling and the wind howled it became time for mittens and boots; skates, sleds, and toboggans as well as homemade soups and breads, casseroles and a favorite my grandmother used to make-Rice Croquettes. 

I'm sure any of us grandchildren who sat around her kitchen table enjoying those rice croquettes never understood what a croquette was but it didn't matter. We were going by the taste, the warmth and the fun we had sitting around that table in the wintertime. Sometimes after skating down at the creek, we'd stop at our grandmother's and if she was baking cookies or making rice croquettes she'd sit us down to enjoy whatever it was she was making. Her molasses cookies were so delicious. One was a handful.

I never realized until years later that rice croquettes are quite simple to make. There are only four ingredients. After mixing the ingredients together, you roll out the croquettes in flour and cook them in deep fat until browned. The crowning glory was topping those croquettes off with hot tomato sauce or hot tomato soup. Tomato soup was usually my grandmother's choice. I remember anxiously waiting for her to cover my croquette with her hot tomato soup. 

Who knew such a soup could be so exciting-exciting as whipped cream on a chocolate pie. Icing on a cake. Meringue on a lemon pie. But it was and it had everything to do with my grandmother who turned rice croquettes into sought after delicacies served with love in the wintertime.