We have a famous bakery and patisserie in Amsterdam (@holtkamphoreca) which makes the most amazing cakes but also savoury bites, like croquettes and sausage rolls. My favourite are the shrimp croquettes, crunchy on the outside and amazing shrimp ragout on the inside. For a first try I was pretty happy with the result.
For the ragout I used a homemade prawn broth which I still had in the freezer, I added a mix of Norwegian and Dutch shrimp, super decadent and delicious!
Our vegetable ‘garden’ (aka balcony) is exploding at the moment, and as I already had the oil hot and ready for the croquettes I decided to flash fry some herbs: basil, parsley and sage. Absolutely yummy with shrimp croquettes! It’s a shame we don’t have any left in the freezer after this, time to make some more!
Shrimp Croquettes with Flash Fried Herbs and Mustard Mayo
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Loading...Ingredients
- Roux:
- 80 g unsalted butter
- 120 g all purpose flour
- 250 ml milk
- 250 ml Shrimp stock (store bought or homemade)
- Other ingredients
- 300g peeled and cooked shrimp
- 6 gram gelatin, soaked in cold water
- 2 egg yolks
- 50 ml full fat cream
- White pepper & Salt
- Cayenne pepper
- Few drops tabasco
- 1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
- 200g Panko breadcrumbs
- 5 egg whites
- 3 tbsp all purpose flour
- Vegetable or peanut oil for frying
- 1 tbsp grainy mustard
- 1 tbsp Mayonnaise
- Flash fried herbs
- Handful basil
- Handful sage
- Handful parsley
Instructions
Make the roux
Melt the butter in a heavy bottom pan, and let it start to foam, but don't let it turn brown.
Whisk through the flour and keep stirring, ± 2 minutes.
The colour will go slightly darker and it will come together and slighlty et loose from the bottom of the pan. Don't let it burn, turn the heat down lower if needed.
Slowly start whisking in the broth and milk, adding a bit more at a time so the juices soak up the flour mixture. Keep stirring and make sure there are no lumps.
Let the ragout simmer away until the flour has been cooked through, ± 5 minutes. Remove from the heat when the mixture is glossy and doesn't taste floury anymore.
Mix through the squeezed out gelatin and keep stirring until dissolved.
Whisk the egg yolks with the cream until loosened and mix through the ragout.
Season everything with pepper, salt cayenne pepper and tabasco.
Mix through the shrimp and the chopped parsley.
Cover the mixture and let set and cool in the fridge overnight.
Make the croquettes
If you prefer a finer crumb, blitz the panko bread crumbs for a few seconds in a blender for a finer crumb. In the picture you can see an example of both.
Whisk the egg-whites to loosen.
Get your working station ready, so you can dip the croquettes in one by one. Left: flour / Middle: Egg whites / Right: crumbs
Use an ice-cream scoop 2 spoons or to scoop out ± 60 of ragout, and roll this out to a sausage form.
Dip and cover the croquette in the flour, then in the egg-whites and then in the crumbs (see tip below).
Place on a plate and repeat.
Preheat your deep fryer or add a layer of oil in a pan or work. Make sure the oil is deep enough to cover the croquette, it should be able to float around a bit (± 2 cm higher).
Fry the croquettes when the oil is at 180°C (see tip below) for 3 minutes, until starting to float to the top. Fry 2-3 at a time, or the temperature of the oil will drop too quick.
The herbs
Wash and thoroughly dry the herbs.
Add the herbs, a few at a time so the oil doesn't coo, down too quick.
Be careful, the oil will sizzle and splash the first few seconds.
Fry for ± 10 seconds. Remove and drain on a paper towel. Sprinkle over some seasalt when still hot.
To serve
Serve with a mustard mayo (just mix the 2 together) and the flash fried herbs.
A few tips
Using just one of your hands to dip the croquettes through the coating mixture will leave your other hand clean and available to do other things (like turn on the tap, pick up a phone, turn up the heat etc.).
If you don't have an oil thermometer like I do check if the oil is ready by dropping in a small piece of bread. If it starts to bubble and fry right away the oil is hot enough. If not, wait a while, it really needs to be hot enough to seal the croquette right away.
These croquettes will keep for 3 months in the freezer. After you have rolled them in the bread crumbs add them to a sealable Tupperware separating the croquettes with pieces of cut baking paper or wrap them in cling film, they shouldn't touch each other or they'll stick together. When ready to make them, you can add them to the hot oil when still frozen, it will take ± 4 minutes. They're ready when floating to the top.
Notes
Good to keep in mind: the ragout mixture needs to cool and set for a night before you can make the croquettes.
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