Spanish Tapas - Croquettes
Croquetas a la Española - Appetisers, Canapés or Entrees from Spain
Little mouth-watering bite-sized tapas made from left-overs. A tasty traditional food from Spain. Tapas or supper these croquettes make a versatile stand-by.
The Spanish are excellent at entrees or tapas, especially ones that are quick to make or made in advance and are quick and easy to finish and serve.
Croquetas are also a fine example of the thriftiness of the Spanish, using up any type of leftovers with basic ingredients of flour, milk, eggs and day-old bread.
Croquetas are made with bacalao- salt cod, cheese, ham , jamon, tuna, vegetables etc. Basically whatever you have and whatever you can think of could be turned into these mouth-watering appetizers.
They are equally delicious hot or cold and are a good filling and easy to eat picnic food, and can be made as a vegetarian tapas with red and green peppers or as a meat dish.
To speed up the process you can make a double batch of white sauce and keep it in the fridge or freezer for when you want to add to it. Or you can make the entire croquetas and freeze them with their breadcrumbs. They can then be grilled or fried straight from the freezer.
Croquetas a la Española – Spanish Croquettes
Serves 4 people
Ingredients
- 50g jamón
- 125g minced beef
- ½ litre milk
- 40g butter
- 200g breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- 11 tbsp. flour
- salt
- pepper
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
Directions
- Put the butter into a small pan and melt it gently, then add the minced meat and stir well.
- Cut the jamón into small squares and add to the butter and meat mixture.
- When the meat is cooked add the 10 spoonfuls of flour one at a time and stir well.
- Cook the flour for a minute then very slowly add the cold milk, keeping the mixtue moving all the time.
- When all the milk has been added transfer the mixture into a shallow dish and leave it to cool.
- A better result is achieved if the mixture can be left for around 4 hours as it seems to stick together and stay together better. Leave it at room temperature, not in the fridge.
- To make the croquettes you can use an icing bag without a nozzle in it or just a spoon and your hands.
- First put the egg into a bowl and beat it well, add 1 tbsp. flour and 3 tbsp. water and mix well.
- In a second bowl put the breadcrumbs.
- If you’re using a piping bag you can make one long “sausage” and then cut it into the desired lengths. If you’re using a spoon take the same amount of mixture every time, roll and mould it with your hands.
- Now add the croquettes one by one into the egg mixture and then the breadcrumbs and put on one side, preferably on a plate not touching each other.
- Fry the croquettes in a small deep pan with the hot olive oil until brown.
- Remove from the pan onto a plate with kitchen roll to absorb the excess oil.
Serving suggestions
- Serve with a crisp salad and fresh crusty bread for a tasty and filling supper dish.
- To make vegetarian croquettes, make up a thick white sauce and add the finely chopped cooked vegetables, leaving the mixture to cool, this mixture is best chlled before coating with the egg mixure and breadcrumbs.
What about some fresh squid in batter for tapas?
