Last year, I worked on a recipe production for tapas dishes for the Dutch women’s magazine, Vriendin. One of the recipes I developed was spanish croquettes with ham and peas. They were really delicious, and they got me thinking about making one of my favorite kind of croquettes — shrimp croquettes!
As far as I’m concerned, the best shrimp croquettes come from a fabulous fishmonger in Brussels called La Mer du Nord. The place is always packed, but if you’re willing to wait in line for a while, your patience will be rewarded. Best seafood ever!
When creating this recipe, I really tried to remember the texture and flavor of the ones I’ve had there. Of course, this is and remains my version! Not the same, but definitely delicious!
The weather forecast predicts sun this weekend, so make a batch of these and head outdoors with a chilled bottle of minerally white wine! Enjoy!
Shrimp Croquettes
Makes 8-9 croquettes
- 350ml milk
- ½ a fish bouillon block, crumbled
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 spring onion, finely chopped
- ½ red chili pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
- 20g butter
- 20g flour
- 125g small pink shrimp
- pinch nutmeg
- 50g frozen peas
- rind of ½ lemon
- fleur de sel and freshly cracked-pepper
- 1 egg,
- 50g breadcrumbs
- sunflower oil, to fry
- lemon to serve
Warm the milk with the crumbled bouillon block, making sure it dissolves well. Keep the milk warm. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and sweat the spring onion and chili for 2 minutes. Remove from the pan, set aside and in that same pan, melt the butter. Add the flour and stir continuously for about two minutes. Increase the heat a bit and add the warm milk in small quantities while you continue to whisk. Keep cooking the sauce as you stir for about five minutes until the sauce is nice and thick. Take the pan off the heat and add the mix of spring onions and chili, shrimp, nutmeg, peas, lemon rind and salt and pepper. Transfer the mixture to a tray, cover with plastic and allow to rest in the fridge for at least five hours or overnight. When you’re ready to fry the croquettes, whisk your egg in one shallow dish and add the breadcrumbs to another. Make small ovals using about with about 1 tbsps of the mixture, dip them through the whisked egg and roll through the breadcrumbs. Now fry the croquettes, in two batches, in hot oil for about 6-8 minutes or until they float to the top and are golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper and serve with lemon slices.