As we are still in lockdown I went a bit mad foraging for wild garlic. So far I have made wild garlic salt, oil and pickled buds (recipes to come). We managed to have a roast chicken on Sunday and I picked off the leftover meat. With the carcass I made a beautiful chicken stock chucking in the odd bits of veg I had leftover. I’m going to make an asian dish with it today. So with the bowl of chicken I had I rumugged in the fridge and there were some ends of chorizo and a small bit of cheeses of course my foraged garlic leaves. I love chorizo and manchengo cheese croquettes in tapas restaurants and I have made leftover ham ones before (recipe here). This version was so yummy. Soft in the center and crunchy on the outside as I used the end of bread that was a week old. You can really add anything you have in the fridge the important bit is the cooling in the fridge so they are easy to handle and hold their shape.

Ingredients (makes 6)

• 1 banana shallots, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 tbsp butter
• 3 cooking chorizo or a third of ring, skin removed if possible and roughly chopped
• 60g plain flour
• 200ml milk
• Bowl of leftover chicken, optional
• 100g grated cheese, I had cheddar
• 2 tbsp wild garlic leaves, finely chopped
• 2 eggs beaten
• Sprinkling of flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
• 2 slices of bread, blitzed into crumbs
• 1 tbsp of oil, I used olive
• 1 tbsp paprika

Directions

1. Allow yourself at least 90 minutes to chill the filling mixture before cooking. Add the butter and shallot to a medium saucepan over a medium heat. Let the butter melt and sweat off the shallots until softened and translucent about 5 minutes stirring occasionally it will be a bit longer if using a whole onion. Add the chopped chorizo give them a stir and leave so they release their oil. Cook for further 5 minutes.
2. Tip in flour and mix thoroughly the flour should take on a really nice colour from the chorizo oil, cook the flour for a couple of minutes. Mix in the milk a drizzle at a time stirring well. You can season here if you want to. Once you have a nice thick paste take the paste off the heat and stir in the chicken ( if using), cheese and wild garlic leaves. Place in a bowl, cover and put it in the fridge for 90 minutes.
3. Before taking the mixture out of the fridge get the coating ready. On one plate add some flour and season, in another bowl add the beaten eggs. On a larger finally plate add the breadcrumbs, paprika and oil and mix thoroughly with a fork. The oil means the croquettes will brown nicely.
4. When ready preheat oven to 200 degrees fan or air fryer to 190 degrees. Take your mixture out of the fridge, scoop out a handful and shape into a cigar shape. Roll first in the seasoned flour, then the egg and finally the breadcrumbs, pressing down in the crumbs or using your hands to cover and gaps. Place on an oven tray or in your air fryer basket and repeat with the rest of the mixture. I made 6 chunky ones.
5. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or in your air fryer for 12 minutes. Serve with other tapas or a nice salad. I made some Harissa mayo by adding a tsp of Harissa paste to 2 tbsp light mayo and a squeeze of lemon. Enjoy 😊