“SUPER” CROQUETAS DE JAMON!
Ham croquettes

Ingredients:

Flour
Milk
Nutmeg
Butter
100 gr (4 oz) cured ham (jamón Serrano). This recipe is also good for croquetas de pollo, if instead, you use chicken leftovers. Sometimes, I combine the two, like my grandma used to do, and it really works!
Breadcrumbs
1 egg (optional)
Olive oil
Salt

In a saucepan, melt a couple of tablespoonfuls of butter and add 4-5 more of flour.
When this mix begins to brown, slowly add the milk, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to prevent lumps from forming. Leave to cook slowly, adding milk from time to time. Add salt and a pinch of nutmeg for a perfect béchamel sauce, voila!. Dice the ham, sauté in a little olive oil (or you can avoid this if the dices are very small), and add to the pan. Continue stirring until the sauce is cooked.

Pour into a bowl and leave to cook for a few hours. Once cold, start taking portions of the mixture and use your hands to make “ovalish shaped balls”. Coat in breadcrumbs and fry in plenty of hot oil, or, if you prefer a little bit more consistent croquetas, dip in a beaten egg and then roll in breadcrumbs a second time.

I love the homemade kind both hot or made the previous day even.

I'm in heaven!!! Can you believe I was in Spain for 3-weeks last month and didn't have ANY croquetas de jamon? (I don't think) Maybe I'll have to fix them here at home myself. Thanks!!

Madridman, if you look at Penelope Casas' Foods and Wines of Spain there is ane easy and very good recipe for croquetas which I have used many times. I know you would like it. Buen provecho.

Pim, I love your recipes...thanks for sharing them.

Madridman ... here is an easy to follow croquetas recipe ... I hope you take the time to prepare them ... hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

1 cup of ham ... very, very, finely chopped ...
1 cup of milk
1 cup of flour
2 beaten eggs (add one table spoon of water to beat them)
1 cup of bread crums
3 tablespoons of very finely chopped onion
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup of olive oil
----------
saute onion, add ham, add flour, milk, salt, & pepper. Cook slowly in low heat until it thickens. Work into a consistent dough, and let it get cold in the refrigerator for about an hour. Make round or egg shapped balls with dough. Roll them in bread crums. Dippen them in beaten egg, roll them again in bread crums. Fry in hot oil (medium heat) for about 2 minutes. Move constantly, do not let them get burn. There you have ... your "croquetas de jamon ..." How many you get? ... depends on the size of the balls.
Buen provecho!!!

OK people, I believe I'd complained before about not being able to find yellow peppers in Madrid anywhere (it bothered me mainly because once in a while I like to "go oriental" ), well I've finally found them, but get this; I bought 3 smallish ones for € 4'55!, where? well, of course at the 'fruteria Vazquez' in 'barrio Salamanca', known to be the veggies and fruits suppliers of the Royal family amongst others (our queen is a vegetarian). BTW, they are, of course, perfect-looking and sweet!

I hope this helps anyone who may have that silly little 'capricho' at some point.

And continuing with the “food that goes great with some cañitas” theme :
CALAMARES FRITOS
Fried squid rings

Ingredients:

1 kg (2lb) squid
3 cloves garlic
Flour
Olive oil
Salt

Clean the squid by pulling the head to separate it from the body. Use a knife to cut the tentacles above the eyes. Make sure you have removed the tooth found inside the head. Remove the innards and quill, together with the skin covering the body. Wash the tentacles and body in cold water and dry.
Chop the squid into rings 1 cm(1/2 in) thick and leave to marinate for an hour in olive oil and chopped garlic. After this time remove the garlic and season the squid with a pinch of salt (though squid needs very little if any seasoning).

Coat each ring or strip in flour and fry in hot olive oil until golden brown.

Serve hot with chunks of lemon.
(Or in a "bocadillo', or with "salsa brava'(mmm!….I call those "“calamares bravos”', OR both!) .

I think it's time for an official "MadridMan Members' Cookbook!" It's fun to read through these, but we need an easily printable format (yes, I know about the "printer-friendly view" option on the lower left side of the page...but then it's incredibly long!). MM, can you think of a way to do this that won't be too much trouble for you?

Maybe a separate recipe input page, with fill-in boxes for (1) the name of the recipe, (2) the ingredients, (3) the technique, and (4) the author. Then if the names of the recipes could all be on an index page, and clickable...and formatted for printing individually?

I know, I know, you've got too much to do already! But someday???

taravb, by July 4th I'll put something together and make a page for these recipes on the little body of MadridMan.com which carries around this big, lopsided head of a message board. hehehe..

Hey, isn't it time someone revived this "MadridMan Members' Cookbook!" thread?! (I can't live you guys alone...) :p

Here we go, this is The Pimster's own recipe for:

PAELLA VEGETAL/DE VERDURAS - VEGGIE PAELLA

Ingredients:

Rice

Olive oil

Vegetable stock

Onion

Garlic

Green pepper

Tomatoe

Green beans

Artichokes

Peas

Salt

Saffron

Pimentón, (paprika, cayenne pepper ¿?)

Lemmon

'Pimientos del piquillo' or 'pimientos morrones' (sweet red peppers) (canned)

Start by frying lightly in the paella (paella dish) the chopped/diced green pepper, tomato, onion, and garlic in the oil; continue by adding the washed and chopped beans, the artichokes, the peas(I use frozen ones); stir for a while..., then add up the rice, the vegetable stock (or is it broth?), the salt and the saffron, stir some more, and let it cook....I add the yellow 'colorante' carefully and gradually as I see the rice slowly become tender. The rice we use over here for paellas is quite hard, so this last process can take at least 10 minutes, after the appropiate time, turn the heat to low and add the sliced red peppers, stir a little and turn the heat off. Finally, allow the rice to "rest" for at least five more more minutes (best if covered with some cloth.).

Important tip! From my experience, artichokes can turn your lovely yellowy rice into a quite dark one that looks like it belongs in 'arroz con calamares en su tinta' almost, in a matter of minutes; but you can avoid that nasty effect by rubbing them....., or like I do, which is simpler, washing the suckers in water with lemmon drops before cooking them.

Presentation tips; You can use the remaining slices of lemmon, a sliced boiled egg, and the red pepper itself to be creative and give your classy finishing touches.

Alteration tips; this is only my recipe, and it's quite basic, so a few ingredients can be modified; broad beans can be used instead of the green ones....; or you can add minced carrot to the stir-fry, or mushrooms, etc, etc.......

Last tip; you can skip the saffron (the real thing); even the saffron and the 'pimentón' altogether, and instead use a seasoning product called Carmencita which is pretty good. Of course the veggie broth could be homemade as well, I usually use stock cubes due to severe lack of time....

Next up, the Pulpo a Feira recipe, specially dedicated to two big octopus lovers; Jo-Anne and MadridMan.

hey Pimster - it's 8:30 in the morning here - and you have just made me hungry! You raised a good point - what did happen to the Cook Book concept -just between this thread and my plea for tapa help - there is the start of an original cookbook that might even make a few Euros. What about it members - shall we get organized on this?