Meat croquettes (Croquetes de carne)

I don't like picking presents for anyone. Majority of times one ends up buying something useless, 9 out of 10 made of plastic. Presents should be useful and meaningful but the road that leads to them is not an easy one.

A friend's birthday is in November and I was meeting her 3 days before her birthday. She is one of those people that never forgets your birthday and always buys you something. Of course, I need to get her something.

Luckily, she is crazy about croquetes de carne. I don't think she minds that I have gifted these to her last Christmas as well. Her eyes light up like a small child when she sees them!

In Portugal, any café sells these. No one even bothers thinking about making them from scratch. In the UK, if you want it, you have to make it!

This is another recipe from Neuza Costa's saborintenso.com.

Serves: 32 croquettes.

Ingredients:

• 500g minced pork
• butter: 30g + 80g
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 90g chorizo, minced
• 2 tbsp parsley, chopped
• 300ml milk
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 100g plain flour
• a generous squeeze of lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste
• nutmeg to taste
• To fry:
• 2 beaten eggs
• breadcrumbs
• vegetable oil

Method:

1. Fry 30g butter, the garlic, chorizo and bay leaf in a frying pan for bout 2 min. It's easier to properly mince the chorizo. To be honest, I don't think it needs the butter as the pan was very oily by the end of it. As long as you keep stirring the ingredients in the pan, the oil that the chorizo leaks should be enough.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Add the minced meat, season with salt and pepper and fry. Mash the meat with a fork as it fries as this will make sure the meat mince is very small once cooked. This is essential for the croquettes to keep their structure once you bite on them. Hard work on the wrist but worth it.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Once the meat is thoroughly cooked, remove the bay leaf and add the parsley. Reserve.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Fry the onion in 80g butter in a pan until golden. Add the flour and mix well. Add the milk a bit at a time until thickened. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and lemon juice. I minced the onion as I was too lazy to chop it very finely.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Add the meat to the onion roux and mix well. Keep mixing over a low heat until the mixture unglues from the pan. Let it cool.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. When cold, mould the croquettes with your hands into a cylindrical shape and place them on a floured plate. Mine are about 5cm length by 2cm diameter. Traditionally they are almost twice as long but I like them in a more bijoux size. I always eat plenty regardless of the size so smaller is better for the waist.
   
   
   
7. Place the beaten eggs in one plate and the breadcrumbs in another.
   
   
   
8. Dip the croquettes in the beaten eggs, shake off the excess, roll them in the breadcrumbs and fry in hot oil. A few seconds in each side until golden.
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. Leave them on kitchen paper until ready to serve.