Croquetas de Pollo

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Posted on May 7, 2013
These little Croquetas are best described as legendary... Crunchy on the outside and meltingly delicious on the inside, they are little gems of Spanish Tapas Heaven. They're surprisingly easy to make at home; and with no butter or cheese or deep frying, they are also reasonably healthy. Not that you'd notice - they taste too special!

Ingredients

  • 85g Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 115g Plain Flour
  • Half a large Onion (or 1 small one!)
  • 500ml Semi-Skimmed Milk
  • 75g Cooked Chicken (chopped)
  • Salt
  • 1tsp English Mustard
  • Dash Worcestershire Sauce
  • 2 Free Range Eggs (for dipping)
  • Plain Flour (for dipping)
  • Breadcrumbs (for dipping)

To make the Croquetas mix… gently fry the finely chopped Onion in Extra Virgin Olive Oil over a medium heat… there is quite a lot of oil, so be careful here!

When the Onions are starting to smell sweet, and look like they are browning very slightly around the edges (about 5 or 7 minutes?), add the Plain Flour and stir.  I use a whisk – you need to either whisk or beat the Flour and Oil together very firmly (you don’t want any lumps).  Whisk for a few minutes while the Flour taste cooks out slightly and the mixture heats through

Add the Milk (big) dash at a time… each time stirring hard to make sure all the Milk is absorbed and there are no lumps.  Each time the mixture will come together in the pan; keep stirring as you bring it back to a simmer each time.  Add a squirt of Worcestershire Sauce and a teaspoon of English (Colman’s) Mustard – also half a teaspoon of Salt

When all the Milk is added – the mixture has come to the boil and cooked through (taste to test the taste)… add the cooked Chicken and stir again.  Turn off the heat and pour / spatula the mixture into a bowl to cool.  Rick prefers 6 hours as a minimum cooling time – so overnight might be good?!

When the mixture is totally cooled (or chilled in the fridge), you’re ready to make the Croquetas…

Line up bowls of beaten Egg, Flour and Breadcrumbs

Take a dessert spoon of the mixture, roll it slightly so it is the right shape (although avoid handling the mix too much!); dust in Flour, then dip in Egg and finally roll in Breadcrumbs…

Place each one on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper

(I tend to chill these for a couple more hours in the fridge before cooking… but mostly because I think oven baking them requires them to be colder than deep frying them would)

Pre-heat the oven to 200˚c and very lightly brush the Croquettes with a tiny little bit of Olive Oil… Cook them for 10 – 15 minutes or until golden brown and just starting to melt in the middle

Eat immediately… Bravas Sauce or Dressing would be good with these little Croquetas de Pollo

This was based on a Rick Stein recipe (broadly – he actually uses butter and ham, and no onion, mustard or Worcestershire!!).  It comes from his very brilliant book about Spain, undoubtedly my favourite of all his books; definitely buy it…

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