Recipe - Leftover Challenge: Chicken Croquettes

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab  
Croquettes are something very dear to my heart. As a kid we'd get them once a year! They were like absolute gold dust, which is sort of ironic because they were made from leftovers! Turkey, to be precise! And bloody good they were too. 

 








I have no idea how my mum used to make them! The other day I was faced with some leftovers, and it had been so. so long since I'd had one, that I thought - why the hell not?!! In fairness, they took about 2hrs to make, which is probably why we only got them once a year!! But I made enough to keep me in frozen croquette for a while . . . . reeee..sult!!

Here's how . . .

ingredients (makes 16-18)
for the croquettes
150g left over roast chicken 
     (about 1/4 - 1/3 of a roast chicken)
150g mushrooms
250ml pint chicken stock
1 tbsp gelatine powder
     or 2 sheets gelatine (optional)
80g flour
80g butter
50ml milk
4 egg yolks
1 egg (whisked with a touch - 10ml - of milk)
old/toasted bread / bread crumbs(for coating)
oil for frying (veg/sunflower)

for the coleslaw
1/3 cabbage (finely sliced)
12 black olives (stoned, quartered)
50g pea shoots or other green leaf
8 cherry tomatoes (quartered)
1 tbsp mayonaise
500ml 5% brine (boiling)

croquettes
Clean the mushrooms, then add them to the chicken stock and leave to simmer.
Debone the chicken and dice it: medium small dice. If you like your croquettes super smooth, you can blend it! Personally, I like a bit of texture in my creamy croquettes. Also nice to be able to identify what you're eating, neigh-ce pas? (Boom boom!)
Make a roux by melting the butter in a pan, then adding the flour and mixing until a smooth paste is formed. Remove from heat.
Remove the mushrooms from the liquor with a slotted spoon and place them onto a cutting board to cool down.
 
Mix the gelatine powder into the hot liquor until completely dissolved. If you're using sheets soak them in cold water for 5 mins first, squeeze any excess water from them and add them to the liquor, mixing in until dissolved.
Add about 3 tbsp of the liquor to the chicken and mix until well coated and glossy.

Add the milk to the roux and loosen it. (Mix in until smooth)
Add the remaining liquor to the roux and mix until smooth, put it on a gentle heat until the flour is cooked out. (10-15m) A little more stock and this would be a velouté. Take off the heat.




Chop the mushrooms to a similar size as the chicken.
Add the chicken and mushroom to the creamy mix, then add the egg yolks and mix in with a wooden spoon, stir until the mix is thick and silky, season if required.
At this point the classic route would be to pour the mix into a tray and let it cool for 2hrs until it's set, then coat in bread crumbs.

But I was absolutely starving at this stage so I took matters into my own hands:
Run the cold tap until you have an inch (2.5cm) of water in the sink, then place the pan in and keep stirring, this will quickly lower the temperature of the mix. Once it's cold the mix will be thick enough to quenelle.

Quenelle the mix with table spoons onto a tray of flour, roll to coat in flour.
Coat in egg wash, (the whisked egg) then bread crumbs, and place onto a tray lined with bread crumbs.

Once you have enough to fill your frying pan, heat your oil to a medium temp (160C for deep fat fryers - 4mins) and place the croquettes into the oil with a pair of tongs, fry them until golden brown turning occasionally so they are evenly cooked.

Once they're ready, remove them and place in a sieve (green option) or onto kitchen towel to drain.


At this point it's important not to let the little blighters get the better of you by having a sneaky taste, you will burn your mouth!
Let then drain for a moment, then place on a hot serving tray and serve immediately!

coleslaw
Prep the ingredients as listed.
To make the brine weigh out 25g of salt and add 500ml of boiling water, stir and dissolve the salt.
Add the sliced cabbage to the brine and leave for 30mins, then rinse under cold water and drain. This will have 2 effects: it seasons the cabbage and parboils it, softening it slightly for the coleslaw.
Once the cabbage is completely drained, mix the ingredients together and put aside until required.

thinking ahead
Croquettes freeze very well so you can make a big batch - 'cos let's face it, they take a while! - and bust 'em out of the freezer when the mood takes you!

what could go wrong?
When dicing the chicken and mushrooms, if you dice them too big it will be difficult to roll them into croquettes. 4mm chunks max!

to serve
Place a healthy portion of coleslaw onto a warm plate, add the croquettes and dress with a sprig of parsley if you're feeling like the '70s. Alternatively, you can load a serving dish with croquettes and large bowl with the coleslaw, place them on the table, and let folks help themselves!
 
variations
The list is endless, but here are a few: Ham, lamb, potato, beef, cheese, rice, salted cod and mussels. They can also be of the sweet variety, for example, made from rice pudding thickened with egg yolk then coated and fried!!

Recipe: The basics - Mayonnaise

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab

INGREDIENTS

2 eggs

3 tbsp warm water

1.5 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 tsp salt

400-450ml sunflower oil

APPARATUS

Food processor (not absolutely necessary but it helps - mayo invented 1756, food processor 1922, mayo wins!!)

METHOD

blend all the ingredients except the oil.

add the oil in a steady stream, it will start to emulsify the mixture, getting thicker and thicker.

Stop when you have reached the required consistency.

Happy days!

Keep refrigerated.

Tips: Using sunflower oil gives a light mayonnaise, the mayonnaise can be made richer a number of ways using only egg yolks, using  extra virgin olive oil, or both! And a further level by using the yolks from duck egg. Although I think duck eggs should be reserved for boiled or fried eggs at break fast, with soldiers or buttered toast! Hmmm, but that's me : )

Tips: Adding lemon is also nice and helps the mayo last longer.

Tips: You can flavour the mayo simply by blending in different herbs and spices, which in some cases can add a nice texture. If you want the texture to remain unchanged it's best to infuse the oil before making the mayonnaise.

Variants that we use to accompany various dishes.

Once you have a base mayonnaise to work with pairing it with a dish is quite simple. Here are a few examples:

Green Mayo (use with prawn cocktail and flamenquines)

600g mayonnaise (as above)

90g chives

45g parsley

20g wasabi (menu dependent: asian fusion)

Saffron Mayo (use with squid ink risotto, or flamenquines)

400g mayonnaise (as above)

1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp minced garlic

2 pinches black pepper

1 pinch maldon salt

2 tsp of saffron strands (simmered in 20ml water & left to infuse for 20 mins)

or

1 1/2 tsp saffron powder

Wasabi Mayo (use with sashimi and chips, fusion prawn cocktail)

35g wasabi paste (about 2/3 of a tube)

400g mayonnaise (as above)

Check out the ensaladilla russa post for a mayotastic recipe, I'll add more links as I put up more recipes : )

Recipe: Ensaladilla Rusa (Russian Salad / Salad Olivier)

by ferdie, in partnership with Unearthed for Action Against Hunger

This is one of the staples of tapas houses all over the Iberian peninsula and into France!! What I find though is that it's rare that you get served a good one. In fact, the number of places that serve truly appalling potato salad is a bit depressing. Usually substandard ingredients with little variety, thin mayonnaise and undercooked potatoes - so disappointing because this is truly one of the kings of comfort foods. I often get a portion before ordering anything else to gauge if the rest of the tapas will be up to par. I do get excited if it's a good one cos when this is made with love it's fantastic and there's a good chance the other tapas have been made with love too : )

Ensaladilla Rusa by wiki accounts was first created in 1860 by Lucien Olivier of the Hermitage restaurant in Moscow. Me thinks the original - which apparently used venison and cray fish amongst other things - has gone through a few Chinese whispers to reach it's current incarnation.

Whenever we went to visit my grandparents in their remote little mountain village for a big old family reunion, this dish would always make it onto the feast menu. Usually in the first or second round served with fresh French stick! That aside, this is how my auntie showed me how to make it, with some small adjustments of my own.

Ingredients (makes 12 large portions or 24 small)
2.5kg  Maris Piper potatoes  (cut into 1-2cm cubes and boiled)
400g   tinned peas  (drained)
400g   tinned artichokes or from deli counter  (drained and diced)
4         carrots  (diced and boiled)
6         spring onions  (sliced - small rings)
18       boiled quails eggs peeled  (6 garnish) or 6 medium eggs hard boiled
24       garlic and chilli flavoured olives  (pitted and sliced)
6         pickled picante peppers  (finely chopped)
3         whole roast peppers  (coarsely chopped - keep 1/2 for garnish)
4         gherkins  (chopped)
750g   mayo  (150g for garnish)
100g   cured tuna  (for garnish optional - or anchovies)

I did this one so that it was vegetarian friendly (simply don't garnish with tuna or anchovy) but more often than not tuna is added to the mix, as are prawns, which I prefer. In fact a friend who was eating with us that night said it was perfect but was rather upset about the lack of prawns! Can't please everyone although this one come close.

Method
Prepare the ingredients as per the ingredients list. The important thing is to use tinned peas, not fresh or frozen, as they contribute to the texture of the mix, use fresh boiled carrots, and raw spring onions finely chopped into small rings.

If you've got the time to roast peppers then that's great but the ones that come in glass jars do a nice job too. You can also do the peppers in a heavy based pan with a lid and some extra virgin olive oil on a medium heat the way my mum does them, turn up the heat just at the end to blacken those sweet little babies off.

But the most important thing is how you cut and cook the potatoes. The secret to a good potato salad is not just nicely cooked small(ish) potato but also the gloop that binds the whole ensemble together and no! that gloop isn't just mayonnaise. It's juice and flavour from the peppers and other ingredients mixed with light mashed mayo potato hmmm : )

Question is how do you get that and it's very simple. Firstly don't cut the potatoes up larger than 2cm, 1cm - 2cm is perfect. Smaller than  that and you're potatoes will quickly turn to mush. Larger than 2cm and you end up with bits of potatoes too large to eat and the balance of potato to lovely gloop is too potatoey. Put the potatoes into the water and add salt. When the water starts to boil, set your timer for 7 minutes, when it goes off they should be perfect. But check them with a knife to be sure, I usually check them at 6 minutes just in case. Then drain them in a colander for a couple of minutes. At this point you need to fluff the potatoes. Once drained pour them back into the pot, season with salt and pepper, get a large fork, and roughly stir up the potatoes until they're kinda fluffy around the edges.

Put the eggs you're going to use as garnish aside, then roughly chop up (or grate) the remaining eggs and add them along with the rest of ingredients that aren't to be used as garnish to the potatoes and mix all together until it's evenly mixed. Check for seasoning and adjust as required.

We garnished our with cured tuna, quails egg and piquant pepper.

This is a version we did in partnership with Unearthed for Action Against Hunger
The course was Pork Meatballs in Chipotle Sauce w/ Ensaladilla Rusa
We used Unearthed pork meatballs and garnished the salad manzanilla olives and sun dried tomatoes and prosciutto. You can find the whole 8 course menu we served here.

As you can see you can present this in all sorts of ways only limited by you imagination!!

Of course if you're a Spaniard or a foodie there's a good chance you'll want to make the mayo yourself so here's how!

Tips: You can cook the potatoes with a stock cube for added flavour, this works well if you're doing a really simple potato salad, with, for example just the green part of spring onions. Which is ultra quick and quite tasty.

When you put love into you're food people will notice!!!!