I love croquettes, they take me down memory lane and remind me of when I used to walk home from secondary school and stop at the local grocery to get some, which I would finish off by the time I got home. They were the best croquettes I have ever eaten but sadly that grocery store is no more. The memory lives on, however, and I will continue making croquettes in search of that perfect taste and texture.
The croquettes I post here are not an attempt to mimic those as they are not even the same flavour. I decided for these because I was lucky enough to get hold of these special sausages and decided to ‘croquette’ them.
It is often the case that recipes work particularly well the second or third time I make them. Every time I cook something nice I always wonder how I can make it better, unless it’s already delicious or I can’t think of anything to experiment with that will improve it. This one is a little success story. In my first version the croquettes were nice but also there was something about them that was not quite there… yet. They needed a little more ‘body’, some sweetness and less sharpness (these two were probably related). So I added some fresh breadcrumbs for body, some cooked leek for sweetness and swapped the lemon for lime. Crucially, instead of using normal bread for the breadcrumbs I decided to use garlic and coriander naan bread and it worked a treat!
In this recipe I used Portuguese game sausages (known as ‘alheiras‘). These are often smoked and contain other meats which are not pork (as their origin is Jewish), but you can make this with any fresh sausage (Cumberland, Venison, Sweet Chilli, etc). I encourage you to try this and if you do (before I do!) please let me know how the croquettes turned out.
You can have this as a starter, aperitif or as a main with a salad or rice. Either way these are lovely little balls of deliciousness and the spices and slight sweetness from the naan bread make them extra special.
- 200 grams sausages fresh
- 1 leek
- 15 grams butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 70 grams fresh breadcrumbs I used garlic and coriander naan bread
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp parsley chopped
- 1/2 lime
- 1 cup plain flour for dusting
- sunflower oil for frying
- 2 cups dried breadcrumbs for breading
- Chop the leek thinly and sweat it on gentle heat in a frying pan with the olive oil and butter until it is soft (approx. 10 minutes).
- Remove the skin from the sausages by making a cut lengthways and place the meat in a large bowl. Add the breadcrumbs, the egg yolk, the cooked leek, the chopped parsley and season to taste (this may not be needed, depending on the amount of salt contained in the sausages you are using). Mix all the ingredients well with your hands.
- Using the palm of your hands roll some of the meat mixture to form small balls (approx. 1 inch diametre). Beat the egg white in a small bowl.
- Dust the meat balls in flour and then coat them with the beaten egg white followed by the dried breadcrumbs.
- Deep fry the croquettes in a large saucepan with sunflower oil on medium to high heat, turning occasionally to ensure all sides are uniform in colour.
- Ensure you drain the excess fat by resting the croquettes on kitchen towel for 10 minutes.
3 Comments
These look like a fab party food. Perfect snack size.
Definitely! Only issue is that you need to be prepared to make lots or have something else as last time I made these they disappeared pretty quickly (maybe I had something to do with it…).
These look pretty scrummy!