I studied abroad in Madrid about 5 years ago during my junior year of college, and one of the things that I miss most about the experience is all the delicious Spanish food that I had during my short stay. I lived with a wonderful host mom named Pilar, and she was kind enough to cook up a variety of Spanish dishes for my roommate and me. Out of all the wonderful food that Pilar introduced me to, my favorite had to be her recipe for croquetas(croquettes). For those of you who haven’t had croquetas before, I would describe them as delicious bites of fried dough mixed with anything from chicken, jamón serrano or cheese. They do take a bit longer to make than most recipes, but the extra work is definitely worth it. My biggest regret is not asking Pilar for her recipe before I left Spain. Fortunately, I found a recipe on Hungry Sofia that was easy enough for me to follow, and I adapted it this weekend to make delicious Bacon and Gouda Cheese Croquetas. Today I’m sharing this recipe with you so that you can learn how to make these delicious bites for yourself.
Recipe adapted from Hungry Sofia Blog
Bacon and Gouda Cheese Croquetas
INGREDIENTS
(Makes 20-24 large croquetas)
12 oz of bacon (cooked and chopped)
3/4 cups of cubed Gouda cheese
2 1/2 cups of milk
1/2 cup of flour
6 Tbsp of butter
Salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg
4 eggs (beaten)
2 cups of bread crumbs
DIRECTIONS
Mix the bacon and Gouda cheese in a food processor or a blender until they form a paste.
In a small pan, melt the butter on low heat. Once the butter is completely melted, begin to slowly stir in the flour until it forms a thick sauce. Only do this for a couple of minutes to keep the mixture from burning.
Heat the the milk in another pan until its warm, but don’t let it come to a boil. Pour the milk unto the butter and flour mixture and stir it until it begins to thicken and forms a doughy texture. Remove from heat and then fold in the bacon and Gouda cheese paste into the mixture. Make sure to add a pinch of salt, pepper and nutmeg as you’re mixing in all the ingredients.
Leave the mixture in the pan and let it cool down to room temperature. Once it’s cool, store it in the fridge for at least an hour. This will make it easier for you to work with the mixture once it comes down to making the croquetas.
Once you’re ready to make the croquetas, you’re going to take out the dough mixture out of the fridge and place the beaten eggs and bread crumbs in separate bowls. Use a large spoon to scoop out the mixture from the pan and roll it into a ball shape. Dip each croqueta into the egg mixture and then roll it in bread crumbs until its completely covered. Do this until you’ve used up all the dough.
Pour about 1.5-2″ of oil in a large frying pan and set to medium heat. Dip the croquetas and use a fork to turn them over until they are browned on all sides. Transfer the croquetas unto a paper towel and let the excess oil drain. And now you’re ready to serve these delicious treats!
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I really hope that you all enjoyed this recipe post. I’m so happy that I now have more time to work on creating content like this for the blog. Although it’s fun to dress up once a week and take pictures, there’s something more satisfying for me about documenting a project from beginning to end. I started this blog as a way to improve my skills set, and so far I have learned so much. However, I’m really looking forward to improving my photography and finding new ways to be creative as I begin to add more DIY and recipe posts to my little corner of the internet.
On a different note, I hope you’re all having a great week so far. I have the day off today and I’m going to spend part of it watching the series finale of my favorite show Parks and Recreation. The show is so funny and I love how much the characters have grown over the years. The current season has also been extremely touching and has brought me to tears so many times. I just really hope that the show has a good ending. Since I’ll probably have watched the final episode once comments start rolling into this blog, I’d love to hear what you all thought of the finale if you happen to keep up with the show.
xoxo,
Helen
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