Josep’s Croquetas de Pollo by Liz Robb

2-3 tablespoons of olive oil

2 chicken breasts, about 300g

A knob of butter

1 small or half a large onion

4 heaped tablespoons of plain flour

700 ml full fat milk

Salt and freshly milled black pepper

100g day old wholemeal bread

1 teaspoon of garlic granules

A small handful of fresh parsley, plus more for garnish

2 eggs

Sunflower oil for frying

 

1. Slice the chicken breasts thinly. Heat half of the olive oil in a large frying pan and cook the chicken slices for a few minutes on each side, until they are cooked right through. Place them on a plate to cool down. When the chicken is cold, mince it very finely in a food processor.
 

2. Peel the onion and chop it very finely. Melt a knob of butter in a large frying pan with the remaining olive oil, and gently cook the chopped onion over a low heat until it has softened, for about 7-8 minutes. Tip in the minced chicken and mix it with the onion. Still on a low heat, sprinkle on a spoonful of the flour and stir to combine, then add a little of the milk and stir until everything is mixed together. Repeat this, stirring constantly, until all of the flour and milk have been used up. Season with salt and a little black pepper.
 

Continue to cook and stir the mixture for about another 10 minutes to allow it to thicken; the dough is ready when it comes easily away from the pan when you stir it, and it will thicken further once it cools. Pour it into a rectangular or square dish and leave to chill overnight in the fridge.
 

3. Remove the dish from the fridge and allow the dough to return to room temperature before cooking. Slice the dough into rectangles of equal size; I made 25 but you could easily make 30 if you want them smaller. Gently roll each piece into a croquette shape, like a short cylinder.
 

4. Tear up the day old bread and put it in a food processor to make into breadcrumbs. Add the garlic granules and the leaves from the parsley and blend again until you have very fine herbed breadcrumbs. Pour the breadcrumbs onto a plate. Beat the eggs in a shallow bowl.
 

5. Pour enough sunflower oil in a pan so that the croquettes will not touch the bottom when they cook. Heat the oil until it is hot, enough to cook the croquettes right through, but not so hot that the breadcrumbs burn. Dip each croquette in the beaten egg then coat in the breadcrumbs, and fry for about 4 minutes, turning once. You will need to cook them in batches; once cooked, lift them out and blot on kitchen towel then leave them to keep warm in a dish in the oven until they are all cooked. 
 

Serve on a platter, garnished with chopped parsley.