How to make chicken croquettes

Spanish-style croquettes, or croquetas, are a handy and tasty way of using leftover meat, specially chicken and ham. A very recession-friendly recipe. In Spain, they are commonly also made with salted cod or serrano cured ham. The combination of bechamel and salty ingredients gives them a good balance in flavour.

This was one of my favourite dinners as a kid, even the frozen croquettes you can buy in any Spanish supermarket, specially the cod and serrano ones. In Ireland, I tend to make them whenever there is leftover chicken after a roast, for example.

The ingredients needed:

-flour

-olive oil

-salt

-shredded or very finely chopped leftover chicken or ham meat

-bread crumbs (you can get them in the shop or you can make your own by grating stale bread)

-1 egg

The first step is to make a very thick bechamel. Start it by heating a couple of spoonfuls of olive oil in a pan, then mix in some flour (200gr or so), add a pinch of salt and keep stirring the milk in one bit a the time until you get a lump-free thick bechamel sauce (it should be difficult to keep stirring with the wooden spoon).

Add the meat bits, stirr a bit and leave to cool. I usually leave the mixture to set in the fridge for 24 hours or so. The following day, the mixture should be very solid and this is when the fun begins.

Use two dessert spoons to create uniform-ish lumps of mixture. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg and have the bread crumbs ready on another plate. This is a three-step process: roll the ball, dip in the egg, cover in breadcrumbs. Once each croquette is covered in breadcrumbs, use your hands to compress them a bit so the crumbs stick to the mixture.

Then you are ready to fry them until they are golden all around. Use kitchen roll to soak some of the fat from frying them, and enjoy them. They go well with some mixed salad and they are a great packed lunch treat when they are cold.