Seafood Made Simple: How to make a fish croquette — the ultimate snack

Saltfish Croquettes with Marinara prepared by Aishling Moore. Picture Chani Anderson.

A croquette is my most favourite tapa. The ultimate snack, with a crisp exterior and a molten interior, you can use just about anything to flavour the bechamel-based filling.

For this weekend’s recipe, I’ve used some hake trim for these croquettes but you could use just about any fish, like cod, pollock, haddock, monkfish and whiting. Smoked fish is also an excellent option for a filling. The smokiness of the fish transfers to the milk beautifully when poaching.

I’ll often use some salt fish for this croquette recipe. Salting fish is a great way to utilise any trim that you have on hand that you mightn’t justify sticking in the freezer and it is super simple to make at home.

With spotlessly clean hands, in a ceramic or glass dish (never metal) place a layer of salt on the base followed by any kind of fresh fish (flat or round white fish, but never oily) and cover in another layer of salt. After a day or two most of the water will have been drawn out from the fish. Remove the pieces from the wet salt and repeat the process of layering with fresh salt in a clean, dry container. This will preserve the fish for weeks, if it lasts that long.

Flavour the croquette filling as you wish. A tablespoon of mustard is a brilliant addition, a finely diced chilli for a bit of bite and a generous addition of fresh herbs.

You’ll often find croquette recipes using olive oil instead of butter to form the roux of the bechamel. You could also use rapeseed oil here instead of the butter or a combination of the two.

Recently, I had a plate of wonderful Iberico jamon croquettes at my friend Conor Halpenny’s restaurant Square in Dundalk. He used a combination of rendered jamon fat as well as butter to form his mixture, which was just delicious.

Fish croquettes

recipe by:Aishling Moore

I’ll often use some salt fish for this croquette recipe. Salting fish is a great way to utilise any trim that you have on hand that you mightn’t justify sticking in the freezer and it is super simple to make at home.

Servings

4

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• For the filling:

• 500ml milk

• 2 cloves of garlic

• 1 bay leaf

• 250g fish (such as hake, cod, pollock, haddock)

• 125g butter

• 125g plain flour

• 2 tbsp chopped parsley

• Zest of lemon

• Sea salt

• For the breadcrumb coating:

• 60g plain flour

• 1 egg

• 175ml milk

• 160g breadcrumbs

Method

1. Add the milk, garlic, bay leaf and fish of your choosing to a medium heavy-based pot. Cook over a medium-low heat and gently poach.

2. Once the fish is cooked, remove from the milk and leave to cool slightly before flaking. Set aside. Remove the garlic and bay leaf and reserve the milk.

3. Take a separate medium-sized heavy-based pot and place on a medium heat. Add the butter and allow to melt completely before adding the flour in one go.

4. Cook for 3 minutes stirring constantly until a smooth paste is formed.

5. Add the warmed milk, a ladle at a time, stirring constantly to prevent lumps forming.

6. Once all the milk is added, reduce the heat and cook for 3 minutes.

7. Remove from the heat and add the flaked poached fish, lemon zest and herbs. Taste and season.

8. Transfer to a shallow tray and cover with a sheet of parchment to prevent a skin from forming.

9. Allow to cool completely before shaping into small golf ball-sized shapes.

10. To breadcrumb the croquettes, beat the egg with the fresh milk and place in a small bowl.

11. Place both the flour and breadcrumbs in two separate small bowls. Working in batches, pass the croquettes through the flour first, then through the milk and egg mixture and finally through the breadcrumbs gently shaking off the excess flour, egg, milk and breadcrumbs at each stage. Place on a tray or a plate in the refrigerator until ready to cook.

12. Heat a small deep fryer to 180°C and fry the croquettes in batches of 8 at a time for 2 minutes or until golden brown.

13. Drain on kitchen paper and season with sea salt and serve with a dipping sauce of your choosing.

Fish tales

• Choose fish with skin for this process. It makes removing the fish from the milk much easier.
• Adding the milk warm to the flour and butter roux paste is essential to prevent lumps from forming. Adding the milk gradually also helps here.
• Be sure to allow the mixture to cool completely before shaping.
• If you’d like to get ahead, the croquette filling can be made a day ahead and chilled overnight before shaping and breadcrumbing.
• Avoid overcrowding the fryer when cooking the croquettes.
• These croquettes freeze really well.