Jamón Croquetas
Croquetas is something I’m sure many of you are familiar with if you have been to a tapas bar in Spain. They are oval-shaped with a crispy outer layer of breadcrumbs and inside you have a really thick béchamel that’s mixed with, in this case, jamón. Although much to the displeasure of Spaniards, croquetas are actually French. They are also eaten in other countries as well, only recently I went to Amsterdam and found they have croquetas that are made with beef stock and small lardons of braised beef. You can really experiment with different fillings such as cheese or mushrooms.
Here in the UK we have potato croquettes which, as delicious as they are, I’m afraid to say come second to these.
You want to have a balance of creamy and crispy when you bite into a croqueta and I’ve got a great tip that will make it so much easier to shape and fry. These are really easy to make, you just have to let the béchamel mixture cool down completely (about an hour). These are also great to make when you have guests round as you can make these days in advance or even freeze them and just take them out and fry at the very last minute.
Next time you’re having a tapas night this is a classic that are guaranteed to go down a treat!
Ingredients
250ml milk
25g double cream
45g plain flour
25g butter
20g oil
50g jamon OR bacon lardons
1 tsp gelatine powder OR 1 gelatine sheet
1 egg
50g fine breadcrumbs
Oil for shallow fry
Method
In a hob, heat the milk gently on a low heat. Don’t let it boil over.
In another pan, make a roux by adding the flour, oil and butter in a saucepan and mixing till you have a thick paste
Add the milk in stages, each stage make sure to whisk in the milk until it is absorbed into the roux.
Once you’ve added all the milk. Take it off the heat and add the double cream, gelatine and jamón. Mix well and transfer into a bowl and let it cool for 5 minutes.
Cover with cling film and let it cool in the fridge for about an hour (until it has completely cooled)
With a tablespoon shape the mixture into oval shaped balls and place on a tray. The mix should give you about 10-12 croquetas.
in a separate bowl whisk an egg and dip each croqueta until it is well covered.
Roll it around in breadcrumbs until it is well coated on all sides (IMPORTANT to make sure they are very well coated)
In a smal panl over a medium heat, add enough to oil to shallow fry and add the croquetas in batches of around 4. (Don’t let the oil get too hot or the croquetas may burst)
Fry until they are a light brown on each side. This should take around 4-6 minutes
Drain and let them cool for 10 minutes before serving.
This may seem time consuming but with a bit of preparation these are really simple to make. The gelatine is a great tip to make the mixture firm and easy to shape. Making sure your croquetas are well coated and fried at a medium heat will ensure all messy disasters are averted and then croquetas don’t burst.
