Spinach Croquetas

This makes a thick béchamel, mixed with the spinach, breaded, and then fried.

1 cup of frozen spinach, measured frozen, thawed and squeezed dry

½ yellow onion, diced small

1 garlic clove, smashed

1 Tbs. olive oil

1 small pat of butter

2 Tbs. spelt flour

3/4 to 1 cup of milk

salt and pepper to taste

about 1 cup of whole-wheat breadcrumbs

olive oil for frying

1. In a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat, add the olive oil, butter, onions and garlic. Sauté until softened. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Remove the pieces of garlic and add the spelt flour and stir all together to form a paste. Move around the saucepan to cook the paste, to avoid having a raw flour taste afterwards.
3. About 1-2 minutes of cooking the onion/flour paste, slowly add the milk while whisking, until the mixture starts to bubble. Add more milk if it is too thick, but it needs to be on the thick side to withstand the frying later.
4. Take off the heat and add the dry spinach. Season with salt and pepper again. Mix together well to avoid having big lumps of spinach.
5. Remove the sauce pan and set aside to cool. It can placed in the refrigerator.
6. After the spinach béchamel has cooled, place the breadcrumbs in a shallow container. Set aside.
7. In a large skillet, pour about 1/2 inch of oil and allow it to become hot enough for frying. Check using a wooden spoon.
8. While the oil heats up, take about 1 tsp of spinach mixture and roll it in your hands to make a ball.
9. Drop it on the breadcrumbs and roll around to coat it well on all sides.
10. Place breaded balls in the hot oil to fry. It’ll take about 5 minutes to cook on all sides until they’re golden brown.
11. The croquetas are delicate so the best way to handle them while frying them is using 2 forks. Use the forks to roll them from one side to another to ensure they cook well on all sides and to take them out of the oil.
12. Make sure the first side has cooked enough and is crispy to withstand being moved. If you move them too soon, they will break and form a sloppy mess on the frying pan.
13. Take them off the frying oil and drain them on some paper towels while they cool.