Anything Croquettes

Recipe for: (ANY KIND OF) CROQUETTES

Ingredients:

• 350ml milk
• 50g butter
• 50g plain flour
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, peeled & chopped or crushed
• 2 tblsp olive oil
• 250g leftovers e.g. chicken, turkey, other meat and/ or veggies, chopped small
• 1-2 tblsp fresh herbs, finely chopped
• Nutmeg
• Salt & freshly-ground black pepper
• 1 egg, beaten
• 75g white breadcrumbs
• Sunflower oil for frying

 Method:

1. first make a béchamel (white) sauce by melting the butter in a saucepan, then adding the flour to make a roux
2. stir constantly for 1-2 minutes to cook out the flour, then add the milk, still stirring & bring to a simmer (but do not boil).  The sauce should be thick by now.  Turn off the heat & set aside
3. in another pan heat the olive oil and sweat the onions & garlic until soft
4. add whatever leftovers you are using & stir to incorporate evenly
5. take off the heat and add the mixture to the white sauce
6. add the herbs, some grated nutmeg & seasoning, then mix everything together well
7. put the bowl in the fridge to chill for at least an hour, longer if possible
8. when cold, use your hands to roll the mixture into balls, patties or sausage shapes
9. dip each into the beaten egg, then into breadcrumbs until well coated
10. pour enough oil into a deep saucepan to come 10cm up the side and heat to 180C, or hot enough to turn a cube of bread brown in 40-50 seconds
11. deep-fry the croquettes, in batches, until golden on all sides – about 4-5 minutes

What else you need to know:

1. you can adapt this recipe to use up just about anything left-over, although probably not too good with Christmas pudding