ANGELINES' CROQUETAS (CROQUETTE)

Para ver esta receta en castellano, pulse aquí: LAS RECETAS DE ANGELINES

Hi!

Today we are going to show you how to make spanish croquetas, but even better the Angelines' croquetas! We are pretty lucky to enjoy them when she prepares them for us. Maybe you think it is hard work to prepare them, but you can see how easy the process is. Now, you don´t have to wait to go to spain, or to go to a restaurant, you can prepare them at home! You just need a bit of practice...

- 3 tablespoons of flour

- Jamón serrano, ham, cod, chicken, cheese, turkey, spinach... (you can choose your favourite)
- 3/4 of a cup of meat stock

- Olive oil

- Salt
- Milk
- 1 tablespoon of butter or margarine 
- 1/4 of an onion
- 2 cheese wedges 
- Egg
- Breadcrumb
- Flour

- Chop the onion finely,

- Warm the milk, but do not boil it.

- Prepare a plate with flour on it.

- Prepare a plate with breadcrumbs on it.

- Cut finely the 3 slices of ham, better from the butcher.

First.  In a deep pot, place olive oil and the onion that we cut before. Cook the onion, until it looks gold, then add the butter.

Second. Today we are doing the ham croquetas, so place it inside of the pot with the 2 cheese wedges. Move it until looks like a mixture.

Third.  Add the flour and move it, until it has a some colour.

Fourth.  Add the milk, depends of the creaminess that you want you should add more or less. If you add too much, it will be liquidy and  complicated to make the croquetas. If we add not enough, the paste will be too dense and will be hard to eat them. That is the hardest part of the recipe, you need some experience to prepare them in the right way.

Fifth.  Add 3/4 of a cup of meat stock, and move again the mixture until it is perfectly cooked. The trick to know when it is done, the mixture will start to pop.

Sixth.  Take the pot out of the heat, and we mix the mixture with a blender, if you don't want to feel some clumps in it. Taste it and add salt if needed. 

Seventh.  Place the mixture on a dish and let it cool, at least for an hour and a half, until it is mild and you can manipulate it to do the croquetas. 

Eighth.  Whip at least one egg on a plate. 

Ninth.  To make the croquetas, you also need a bit of experience, pick a bit of mixture with a tablespoon, place them on the plate with flour (be careful not to put so much flour, if not they will dry). With the hand make the form, and place it first on the place with egg, and then on the one with breadcrumbs. 

Tenth.  In a pan, place a bit of oil, and fry them. Move them, so they will have a uniform colour. 

And..... They should look like that! 

And try to eat them when they are still warm! Enjoy them!

Cheers,

Arantza

Note:

- If you are not going to eat them the same day, you can freeze them in a tupperware after the step eight. It is worth it to make more, so you have for some days.

RICE WITH CHICKEN AND SHELLFISH (PAELLA)

Para ver esta receta en castellano, pulse aquí: LAS RECETAS DE ANGELINES

Today we are going to cook a rice dish that you could call paella, even though it is not the typical one. It is an easy and filling lunch if you have lot of people visiting. 

(for 8 people):


- 8 small cups (each cup 100 ml aprox.) of rice.
- 500 grs. of fresh mussels 
- 500 grs. of clams
- 6 chicken wings
- 8 pieces of chorizo
- 1 squid, aprox. 300 grs. (also you could use "rings of calamari")
- 300 grs. of small shrimps
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 head of fish (hake, goosefish,...)
- 3 eggs
- Tomato sauce
- 1 cub of meat stock
- Olive Oil
- food colouring (like Saffron).
- Salt

For avoidance of doubt, the cup size would be this:  

- Clean the mussels, taking out the dirt outside like algi. Open them in a pot with a bit of water. When the water starts boiling place them, not all at the same time, and take them out when they open. If they don´t open, it means that they are not good ones. Reserve this liquid (previously drained), because adding a bit of water to it we are going to have a stock to cook the rice with. For each mussle take one side of the shell out.
- Clean the squid and cut it in rings.
- Open the clams (with a bit of water, like with the mussels and reserve the liquid for the rice too).
- Make a broth with the head of the fish. Drain also this stock, that we will use for the rice as well.
- Mix all the stock that we prepared with the cube of meat stock in a pot and keep it warm.
- Boil water just in case the stock is not enough and we should add some extra liquid. 
- Boiled 3 eggs, peal and chop them finely.

First.  Use a paellera, the typical pans for paella (see the next photo), if you don´t have one, use a big flat pan. 

Second. With olive oil fry the chicken wings until they look like gold. Take them out, but the oil should stay.

Third. Fry the squid´s rings until they feel soft (about 7 or 8 minutes).

Fourth. Add to the squid, the shrimps and cook them for 2 minutes. Move them to avoid them sticking on the bottom.

Fifth.  Add the clams, the chorizo, the garlic and the chicken. Move them a bit to mix all. See the photo below.

Sixth.  Place the rice to the mixture, move for a bit.

Seventh.  Add the colouring and move to share it all over the food.

Eighth. Add the broth that we have prepared until the border of the pan, if it´s not enough we should add some boiling water. Should be like 16-17 cups from the ones that we used for measuring the rice. 

Ninth.  Try the stock and add salt to taste.

Tenth.  Add the mussels.

Eleventh.  Add a tablespoon of tomato sauce.

Twelfth.  Let it boil for 10 min and then to medium heat (but should still boiling) for another 9 or 10 minutes. If you realise that it starts to get dry you could add more liquid, until 5 minutes before finishing the cooking.

Thirteenth.  Take the pan off the heat and cover it with a clean tea towel (it is still cooking with it owns steam). Keep that for 3 minutes.

Fourteenth.  Decorate the paella with the egg. Serve quick so the rice doesn´t cook too much. 

Enjoy it..........

Cheers,

Esteban

Note:
-Don´t be afraid to experiment with other seefood and meat. 
-If you can´t find fish to make the stock, you may find bricks with fish broth already prepared.