Croquettes of Iberian ham by Dani García (3 Michelin stars)

Here is an original recipe for Iberian ham croquettes by Dani García, who was awarded 3 Michelin stars before abandoning the enormous demands of haute cuisine, and who also had his own cookery programme on Spanish Television, to which he adds hard-boiled egg to achieve an incredible texture.

INGREDIENTS FOR PREPARATION (serves 4):

• 50 grams of butter
• 200 grams of Iberian ham
• 110 grams of flour
• 2 hard-boiled eggs, finely chopped
• 300 grams of ham stock or, failing that, chicken stock
• 700 grams of milk

INGREDIENTS FOR THE BREADING

• Extra virgin olive oil
• Beaten egg
• Breadcrumbs
• Salt

THE PREPARATION

Cooking the flour with great care is of the utmost importance:

Add the butter, ham and flour to a frying pan or casserole. We can add a little less than 50g of butter, as the Iberian ham croquettes will also release their fat and will not require as much butter. It is essential to cook the flour well over a medium/high heat, and when Dani García says "well", he means very well. It is a question of cooking the flour with a lot of care, moving it around a lot so that it does not burn until the flour smell disappears and the aroma of the ham is gradually recovered, without rushing and for a long time, especially in those cases where there are lumps of flour. Cook the flour with the Iberian ham and butter for around 8 minutes over a medium/high heat.

Add the stock and milk:

Add the 300 ml of ham stock or, failing that, chicken stock to the same pan containing the flour cooked with the ham, and cook it over the same heat until it is practically absorbed by the flour. Once the stock has been reduced, gradually add the milk while stirring continuously, so that it slowly integrates with the dough without lumps appearing. This process can be extended for about 25 minutes to obtain a perfectly homogeneous dough without lumps.

If you do not have ham stock or chicken stock, you can solve this problem by adding 1 litre of milk directly (thus replacing the stock with milk).

Add the hard-boiled egg:

Once we have removed the pan from the heat, add the finely chopped hard-boiled egg to the mixture and continue stirring to bind it well, as this will give your ham croquettes a special texture.

Process for cooling the dough:

Butter the bowl in which you are going to leave the dough to rest while it cools. Pour all the dough into it and then don't forget to also add butter to the surface of the dough to prevent a hard crust from forming on top. It is not necessary to heat the butter for this, just rub a piece of butter over the surface of the croquette dough, as the still warm butter will soften and cover it.

How to prepare the croquettes:

With the dough already cold enough to handle, prepare a bowl with finer breadcrumbs, another with beaten egg and finally another bowl with coarser breadcrumbs. Grease your hands with a dash of oil and mould the croquettes with your hands, passing them through the three containers, leaving them ready to be put in the fridge to give them a bit of body and then fry them.

Croquettes ready to fry:

Prepare a frying pan with plenty of Extra Virgin Olive Oil with 0.4 degrees of acidity and fry them. Then you can remove them to a plate with kitchen paper to absorb the excess oil from the croquettes, leave them to cool a little so they don't burn and enjoy the croquettes with *** michelin stars.

Author/Chef: Dani García (3 Michelin stars)
Restaurants: Dani García Group (BiBo Madrid / Leña / Lobito de Mar / BiBo)