calamari croquettes

The other day I was enjoying a special lunch at Manolo León and was urged to try the new chipirone croquettes, and well, they were amazing! So much flavour and served with an ajoblanco sauce.

I loved them so much that last weekend I decided to try making them myself – so be forewarned that this recipe is totally off the top of my head. But in fact, it was quite an adventure and the croquetas turned out very nicely. Instead of ajoblanco I served a bit of salsa az on the side, and instead of chipirones I used smallish calamari (the only squid I could find on a Sunday), but what the heck.

Ingredients and instructions below the links.

croquetas

It all started the other day when my very dear friend Lizzie, who owns & runs the Folk House Cafe & Bar in Bristol, asked me if I had a good recipe for Spanish croquetas. And I did, so I passed it along. But then Lizzie asked me how many croquetas the recipe made and I could not remember … so I decided to find out.

Of course, the thing about croquetas is that they are kind of fiddly – okay, they are a total pain in the ass –  to make, so if you’re going to make one batch then may as well make two. Except then I couldn’t decide which kind to make, and started thinking that four different kinds would make a nice photo … and this is how I ended up with croquetas taking over my kitchen. But I must say it was nice to have a variety of them.

From left to right: spinach with pinenuts & chili peppers, mackerel & roasted red pepper, garlicky chicken, and ham & cheese. Served with “the sauce“.

Recipe is below the links…