Recipe Alert: Spanish Croquetas

10:15 AM: 5-MiLe Run – COMPLETED

Yesterday was a very productive day at home. We woke up, I made breakfast, fed baby, put a load of laundry in, ran 6.2-miles, folded a load and put another in, put Lili down for a nap, put baby back down after waking up again, made P lunch when he came home, put another load in and folded two more, cleaned P’s man cave and then Lili woke up. I made her dinner and she ate. Sebastian woke up for a feeding then back down for a nap. We called Sabrina via FaceTime and caught up with her then with my MIL. Sebastian woke up at one point so I gave him a bath since he pooped. Lili wanted her bath after and by this point, P walked through the front door. He got home after 7. Fortunately I did not have to cook dinner. Leftover lasagna from Sunday night. I just had crackers and chorizo.

Believe it or not I somehow still have a load or two of laundry. Don’t know how. Tamar is under the weather so we canceled our run earlier last night.

I was able to squeeze a run in and grate the cheeses while Sebastian was napping.  I still have to prep the rest of the ingredients for the mac & cheese and do more laundry

As promised, I wanted to share my mother-in-law’s Spanish Croquetas (Croquettes). They are so delicious and it’s one of my favorite tapas at Spanish restaurants. It’s right next to my tortilla Española and chorizo. It’s a bit laborious but so worth it. Here it is:

Spanish Croquettas

Makes about 24-30

Ingredients:

-half of a small red onion
-1/8 green pepper chopped
-1/8 red pepper chopped
-olive oil
-1 cup of milk
-1/3 cup of vegetable oil or light olive oil
-1 cup of flour (sifted)
-about less than 1/4 cup of water
-salt and pepper to taste
-finely chopped meat (chicken, ham, tuna) about 1 cup
-salt and pepper to taste

-1 egg
-breadcrumbs (plain or seasoned)
-1 Tbs of milk
-vegetable oil

Directions:

Making the Paste:

1. Sauté the peppers and onion in olive oil (about 10-15 min.).
2. After sautéed, put ingredients in blender with a little less than 1/4 cup water.

3. After blended well, put ingredients into a pot and add 1-cup milk. Put on medium heat till it boils then lower.
4. Add salt and pepper.
5. Add 1 cup flour. Mix until there are no white gloppy pieces of the flour.
6. Add the finely chopped meat you are choosing to use. Mix well and then transfer to a bowl. Put seran wrap on top of the mixture. See the pic.

7. Put in fridge for at least 3-hours. You can prepare paste for day before you are cooking.

When paste ready:

1. Heat pan with oil (enough oil to cover half of the croquettes) for at least 5-10 min
2. Mix 1 egg with milk.
3. Roll paste into croquette-shape and dip into egg/milk mix.
4. Roll into breadcrumbs.

5. Cook a few in heated pan. When one side brown, roll gently to other side. I don’t suggest using tongs because it’s pretty delicate and will crumble.

Eat one as soon as it’s done because they’re so tasty. If you don’t finish them, put in fridge and they taste good cold too.

Remember I made a whole chicken for dinner last week? Well I used the leftover white meat for my Croquettas. They came out delicious. I think if there is leftover turkey I might make more.

Do you eat turkey for thanksgiving? If you do, what leftover meals do you make? What are you cooking/baking??? Fat pants on? I should have kept some of my maternity pants handy. Oh well.

I am still on the fence about two turkey trots. I know I’ll definitely be running before Thanksgiving dinners tomorrow. First up is at my sister-in-law’s parents house and next is desserts at my sisters. Hopefully the weather won’t be too bad and the traffic won’t be bad especially with two babies.

Happy thanksgiving eve. It used to be a big party night for me… Like, 10-years ago. How sad.

Enjoy!