Chicken Croquettes

Honestly, I think I am as much in love with the story behind this recipe as the recipe itself. Submitted by Phoebe Schilla, she writes of fond memories of her "Memere and Pepere." Her grandparents would take her to eat at local diners and restaurants here in Maine, and she enjoyed a wide variety of food. The restaurant where she loved to order chicken croquettes? Mary's Restaurant in South China.

I don't remember ever attempting to make croquettes, probably because I have deep respect for hot oil, which is another way of saying I'm a bit terrified of having an accident with hot oil.  I do remember eating apple croquettes at the college cafeteria. I know, it sounds odd, but it tasted great. I think the cafeteria ladies were puzzled as to how to feed these strange students who demanded vegetarian food in the early '80's, so they just gave us lots of fruits and veggies disguised in what would normally have been a meat-based recipe.  

I confess that I added a secret ingredient to the croquettes. Which is not going to be real secret, I guess, since I'm going to divulge it here. I have discovered Herbes de Provence, which is just a classic blend of herbs. It is fabulous in just about anything, so I gave it a try in the croquettes, and it is simply exquisite. The taste may not transport you to the southeast of France, but then again, perhaps it will!

Being new to the whole dipping in flour then egg then panko, I made a lovely mess, and the croquettes were not particularly uniform in size. And we have a glass stovetop (ugh, no uniform heat, much prefer a gas stove...) so it was a trick to get the oil to maintain a steady heat. But the end result was delicious, with just a stripe of Dijon mustard over the croquettes to complete the flavor medley.

Comments

Post a Comment

I welcome your comments. Please be kind and considerate. Thanks for stopping by!

Popular posts from this blog

Lancey House Dip

Image
Funny how childhood memories will pop up when a food reminds us... This dip is not one that I recognize from reading its ingredients, but when I tasted it, oh, wow, did it ever take me back in time! As a child, we lived in a large house in Bangor, and my parents loved parties. My mom enjoyed making dips and this one tastes very familiar to me. Maybe it's the cottage cheese base, but there are other ingredients that compliment the cottage cheese and really bring it together. A nice mix with other cheeses to bind it together. My husband is not fond of blue cheese, but I love it. I decided that, since I promised myself I'd try to stay true to the original recipes in the book, the first time around, I would keep the blue cheese in, and see how it tasted.  Turns out, it is in such small proportion to the rest of the recipe, I doubt he will really notice. It simply adds strength to the cheese base, I think, but not enough to overpower other flavors. He hasn't come downstairs to t...
Read more

Maine Party Chicken

Image
 As I read the ingredients for this recipe, I had a flashback to my childhood. My parents enjoyed having friends over, and my mother was not a chef by any means, but she would look for recipes that were easy to prepare for a crowd. This is one of the recipes she used to make.  I used to be a can-of-soup cook, like my mom, when a white sauce was called for. But since I learned how to do a bechamel, oh my, there is no going back. Not that there is anything wrong with an easy pop-top cream of mushroom soup once in awhile. It does the trick, and you just tuck this dish in the fridge overnight and do a three-hour bake the next day, which gives you time to focus on putting up party banners, or whatever, for your company. I'm not sure I care for the dried beef in this dish. Awfully salty. But the bacon, when you do a slow bake, smells fantastic for three solid hours. Can you say Anticipation?! I say, when you go big, go easy. Try this recipe for a crowd. You'll be glad you did!
Read more

Riverhouse Scallops "Benedict"

Image
 If elegant and easy ever paired perfectly, this would be the recipe for such a happy marriage. I saw the minimal ingredients, and thought to self: "This is where the quick hors d'oeuvres meet the 'oh wow' from the guests, with the hostess barely lifting a finger, except to sip some wine." Now, that's my kind of hors d'oeuvres! Slice the very fresh scallops into thin circles. Drop them into fresh lemon juice to "cook." You are also supposed to slice the avocados into circles, to mirror the scallops, but mine ended up being whatever shape the avocado chose. I don't argue with avocadoes about their shape, I just eat them and am grateful they choose to show up on the plate at all. The recipe calls for a few shakes of hot sauce on each scallop slice. I used Cholula Sweet Habanero Hot Sauce.  This is a fabulous appetizer that will impress your friends and family!
Read more