There is no good appetizer in Spain without croquettes. It is an iconic dish in our gastronomy that also takes us back to the flavors of childhood, as happened to the protagonist of the novel. In search of lost time by Marcel Proust when tasting the madeleines.
In addition to returning to classic flavors, such as ham or chicken, croquettes allow you to combine very different ingredients such as cheese, spinach, mushrooms or eggplant. There are two secrets that allow us to find the key to making the best croquettes: the first is how to fry them, since you have to use a deep fryer or a deep frying pan to be able to cover the croquette with oil and not have to turn them over with the risk of them falling apart. The second is that the béchamel is light and creamy.
This January 16 was International Croquette Day, so there is no better time to try yourself in the kitchen with this tasty and diverse appetizer.
Ham and hard-boiled egg croquettes
To prepare this appetizer you have to ask the delicatessen to give us the remains of the ham that is not suitable for slices and is cheaper. We chop it into small cubes. Next, we prepare the bechamel and mix it with the pieces of ham. To do this, we put flour and butter in the pan and as soon as it is melted, we add half of the ham so that it integrates into this dough, called roux. We add milk in trickles very slowly so that the dough absorbs it and does not form lumps.
On the other hand, we cook the eggs and also chop them into very small pieces. As the bechamel thickens, we add a little salt and when it is almost ready, we add the ham and egg. The sign that the dough is ready will be when it fills with bubbles and paths form in the pan when we pass the spoon.
We let the bechamel cool in a bowl and cover it with paper. film. When it is cold we shape the croquette and wrap it in breadcrumbs and beaten egg. Finally, we fry them in batches of four or five with very hot olive oil.
chicken croquettes
Another classic croquette recipe is chicken or chicken and ham. In the case of chicken, we must put the breast in the milk once we have cleaned the skin, bones and fat. It must be cooked, drained and cooled and cut into small pieces. When seasoning them we add a little salt and nutmeg.
Since we have put our hands in the dough, the ideal is to make more croquettes than we are going to eat and freeze for another occasion.
Cooked croquettes
Croquettes are the perfect dish to use up leftovers. Other of the most famous croquettes are those that we make with leftover meat from the cooked dish.
They are very similar to chicken croquettes, although other cooked ingredients such as chorizo or blood sausage are added. You have to chop the remains of the stew very finely and sauté the onion in a frying pan with oil, if that is to your liking.
Boletus croquettes
Boletus croquettes have a soft and exquisite flavor. They can be prepared with either fresh or dehydrated mushrooms. If they are fresh, submerge the boletus in a container with water and let them hydrate for thirty minutes. The water from soaking the mushrooms acquires their flavor and becomes an ally to make the croquette dough tastier.
Previously, you must clean the boletus well, brushing them gently. In a saucepan, heat oil and butter and lightly cook the chopped boletus. We also peel and chop the onion and sauté it over low heat. We add the chopped boletus to the pan when the onion is tender and sauté it for a couple of minutes. We continue with the rest of the process and season it with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Cod croquettes
Cod croquettes are another classic. What we do is sauté the desalted and crumbled cod in the butter, remove it and add it back in when the bechamel is ready. After that, we mix it and let it cool and, from there, we form the croquettes, bread them and fry them in hot oil.
Chickpea and eggplant croquettes
These croquettes are halfway between eggplant croquettes without bechamel and the classic falafel. This appetizer made with chickpeas and eggplant is 100% vegetable. To prepare them, we wrap the eggplant in paper. film and we put it in the microwave for about ten minutes. We let it cool. At the same time, we drain the chickpeas and beat them. Add two tablespoons of chickpea flour, curry, cumin, garlic salt and salt and continue blending.
We open the eggplants in half and remove the meat. We add it to the robot glass and blend again until we obtain a homogeneous paste. Next, we let it cool in the refrigerator. We prepare a light porridge with the rest of the chickpea flour and water. We place the flour in a deep plate and add water little by little until we achieve the consistency of a beaten egg.
We make the croquettes and pass them through the previous mixture and breadcrumbs. As always, we fry them in hot oil until golden.
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