We are food lovers, food enthusiasts, foodies -- whatever you want to call us. Basically we like to eat (good food). Alongside our enthusiasm comes the difficult task of trying to restrain ourselves from ordering everything off the menu when dining out. It's not because we’re that hungry, but because we want to sample all that the chef has to offer. This is one reason tasting menus are so fun. You get to try multiple courses of small bites, but unfortunately the last course is always a big fat bill. If you’re like us and want to excite your palate with different options while sticking to your budget, you have to find alternatives. A good way to do this is to seek out one of the many restaurants that offer up tapas and small plates.

Recently, we were enjoying a glass of wine at the bar in Sette Bello restaurant, on Wilson Boulevard in Clarendon. While scrolling through the menu, just to see what they offered, we were thrilled to see a page titled “Piattini - Italian Tapas.” The list included both cold and hot items such as orange marinated and cured salmon with fennel, watermelon with air-dried ricotta salad, and seared scallops wrapped in pancetta with artichoke ragu. Prices ranged from only $4 to $7. The rest of the menu is divided into antipasti selections, salads, gourmet pizzas, pastas and then entrées, which are all reasonably priced. Unfortunately, the wine menu is over-priced.

We fianlly decided to go with the fiori alla trasteverina ($6) and the crocchette Emiliane ($4). The “fiori” were delicious fried zucchini blossoms stuffed with ricotta cheese and prosciutto. As an added touch to the presentation, batonnets of zucchini were fried and laid beside the salad. We would have done this for Eating In, except we did not want to send you all on the dubious mission of trying to buy squash blossoms. So, this week we will be making Potato and Prosciutto Croquettes with a tomato dipping sauce. We used our deep fryer for these, but if you do not have one, you can use a small pot filled with oil. This recipe can easily be doubled to serve at your next party.

Sette Bello enticed us with its “chic” bar feel and impressed us with their small plates. If you can’t make it out to Clarendon you can stop by their other two restaurants, Café Milano on Prospect Street in Georgetown and the bustling Sette Osteria in Dupont Circle. Chef Domenico Cornacchia oversees all three restaurants.

Shopping List:
1 medium tomato
1 medium onion
1 clove garlic
2 medium golden russet potatoes
3 eggs
¼ pound prosciutto
All-purpose flour
Panko (Japanese style bread crumbs)

Recipe:
1. Pre-heat your oil to 345 degrees. While waiting for that to heat up, begin making the sauce by small dicing the tomato and onion and mincing the clove of garlic. Heat a medium size saucepan to a med/high heat. Add a little oil to coat the pan and sauté the tomato, onion and garlic. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and reduce to a medium heat. Simmer for about 20 minutes.

2. Begin the potatoes by bringing a medium pot with water to a boil. Peel and medium dice the potatoes. Add about ½ tablespoon of salt and the potatoes to the boiling water. When the potatoes are tender all the way through, strain them out of the water. Puree the potatoes through a food mill, with a food processor, or mash by hand.

3. Mince the prosciutto. Heat a medium pan to a medium heat. Add the potatoes and stir--cooking out the excess water--for about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and mix in the prosciutto and 1 egg yolk.

4. Once cool, place potatoes into a small Ziploc bag and cut off the corner of one side, to use as a piping bag. Cut the corner so it will make a cylinder about an inch in diameter. Pipe into long tubes on your cutting board. Cut the tubes into approximately 2 ½ inch pieces.

5. Set-up your breading station by getting 3 bowls. One bowl should have flour, one should have the remaining eggs whisked into it, and the last bowl should have the panko.

6. Gently roll each croquette into the flour, dusting off excess flour, then roll in the egg wash and finally coat with panko.

7. Once all of the croquettes are coated, drop only a few at a time into your fryer or oil and cook until it is golden and crispy on the outside, about 2-3 minutes. When they are done lightly sprinkle with salt and serve with tomato sauce.