Chicken Croquettes

Chicken Croquettes

Oh boy, does this bring some memories of Sunday dinners at my beloved Grandmother's house.  No one noticed she lived in a tiny two-room house, because once you were there all you felt was love.  Her love for family filled every nooky and cranny and filled every pan and filled every dish.  My beloved grandmother was what would describe as a "plain cook," and no wonder as she endured the Great Depression..  There were no fancy sauces, but there was good white gravy seasoned with salt and pepper; no double baked loaded potatoes, but she could make a mash without lumps, loaded with sweet butter and fresh cream; and her nod to modern day living--canned peas

And then there was the old Howard Johnson restaurant-hotel chain. Growing up, it was a big night out to dine at the Howard-Johnson (Ho-Jo's).  That orange roof with cupola could be seen from the road and beckoned many a traveler and promised good fare.  Many people wax nostalgic about their fried clams.  My Sweetie-pie and I, to our mutual surprise, learned we both loved the chicken croquettes there.  

It's taken me a long while to find a recipe I love.  Past attempts were pretty disastrous, with the food falling into the goopy or tasteless departments.  Ugh!  Disappointments abounded.  And then this.  Some may turn their nose up at the use of canned cream soup and packaged bread stuffing, and bless your heart, I respect that.  I ride that high horse sometimes, too, grins.  However, back in my real world, those products are made for ease and convenience in a life that is sometimes too busy, and like canned peas, can make a difference.

I can see why this was a Sunday meal.  This recipe takes some time; I start it in the morning to have it for dinnertime.  Mostly the time is the time spent in the refrigerator, the flavors getting to know each other and becoming all happy.

Chicken Croquettes  
(original recipe is found here:  http://www.food.com/recipe/easy-chicken-croquettes-253952)
2 cups shredded, cooked chicken**
1 (10 1/2 ounce) can cream of chicken soup (low sodium is good here)
1/4 cup milk
1 6-ounce box seasoned stuff mix (or your own homemade bread stuffing)
1 egg
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1 stick of celery, finely chopped
unseasoned breadcrumbs in a separate plate, for dredging
1/4 cup oil or enough oil to have about 1/4 inch deep in pan, or skip the oil if baking

In a good sized bowl, combine the first seven ingredients together.  Give it a pretty good mushing and then put it in the fridge to get all happy, for at least three hours.   

About a half an hour before you think you want to serve these, remove the mixture from the refrigerator and shape.  

• Using about 3/4 of a cup mixture for each, you can shape the mixture into patties (the easiest and fastest), roll into a log shape, or the traditional cone shape.  
• If you opt for the cone shape, which is fun but a little trickier to cook, first make the log, something about three inches long and two inches wide.  From a little height (we're talking only three or four inches, you don't have to drop it from the ceiling to the floor, for example)  just drop the end onto a plate.  The force of its own weight should flatten and spread out the bottom.  I pinch the top a little to define the shape a little more.

Gently roll each croquette in unseasoned breadcrumbs.  From this point you have a couple of choices.  You can freeze up to two months for later use (and these freeze beautifully and taste as good as the day you made them); refrigerate to serve following day, bringing to room temperature first; or proceed with cooking.

The easiest method is to bake them for 25 to 30 minutes at 350*F, if fresh, 45 to 50 minutes if baking from frozen. I baked the ones pictured above.  These were good, but truthfully, a tad dry.  I spooned a bit of oil on top of each one before baking and they were still dry-ish.

For flavor, we greatly prefer frying these.  Patties are the easiest to fry of course and take the least amount of time and oil.  If you chose the pyramid shaped croquettes, have enough oil in the pan to reach a depth of 1/4 inch.  Heat oil over medium heat and gently lower the croquettes into the pan.  The pyramid shaped ones are a little trickier because you're trying to keep the conical shape, gently turning and rolling it about in the pan with a spatula, being careful not to break them, and then standing them on end to make sure the bottoms are cooked.  They're going to take about 15 to 20 minutes to cook.  If you lose control of your croquette, try not to splash yourself with the hot oil.  I found it was best to let each side reach a golden brown color before turning to the next side.  If you need to cook these in batches, keep them warm in a 200*F oven.

COOK'S NOTES:  This is a good way to use up leftover chicken, or if you're of a mind, store-bought rotisserie chicken.  For us, I poach boneless, skinless chicken thighs with a generous amount of my DIY onion soup mix and a half teaspoon of chicken bouillon to up the chicken flavor a bit.  I drain off the liquid, let cool, and proceed with the rest of the recipe.

I'm fortunate enough to have a mini food processor so I pulse the onion and celery in it.  I'm looking for a fine dice, not puree.  Same thing with the chicken.  I give it several good pulses.  The packaged stuffing mix I buy is cut into bread cubes, and I think would be too chunky for this.  So, once again, I give it a couple of whizzes through the food processor.  I'm not looking for bread dust here, just smaller pieces.  Once all the ingredients are mixed together, the stuffing breaks down even further, hence the caveat to keep the stuffing at a smaller-medium size, if that makes any sense.

I made my own white gravy.  I do it by sight, so no exact recipe and no thrills, no frills.  Over the lower end of medium heat, add three or four heaping tablespoons of flour and a good sized gob of butter, maybe half a stick.  Stir, stir, stir, stir.  Once it starts to get all bubbly, add a good splash of milk as you stir,  stir, stir, stir.  It's going to seize up and be a glop. Don't despair and don't give up. Stir, stir, stir.  Add another good splash of milk and stir, stir, stir, repeating until the gravy loosens up and is a consistency you like. You can't rush it, and you can't quit stirring and you can't despair.  This is going to need some flavoring, so a generous amount of freshly grated pepper is good here.  And my secret ingredient for my chicken croquette gravy:  chicken bouillon.  I use Knorr brand but I suppose they're all good.  The Knorr I like it because it's a powder, not a pressed cube, so I have more control over it.  Better Than Bouillon is a great brand too and would be equally as good. (Not an endorsement of either product, just observations of my own experience.) Whatever you choose, I think bouillon can be pretty salty, so I started with maybe a 1/4 teaspoon or less, tasted and then ever so carefully added more grains.  The gravy can easily and quickly become overpowered with salt and chicken flavor.  Remember you can add but you can't take away.

Got lumps?  I use a flat whisk but recently purchased a round collapsible one and it seems to work really well.  If all else fails, do as one of my good friends does, strain the gravy through a strainer to remove any lumps.  It works!  No one's the wiser and her gravy is silky smooth.  Just don't strain it down the sink drain as she did when she was first learning to cook.  HA!