Spanish Tapas

  • Spanish Ham Croquettes (Croquetas de Jamón)
  • Spanish Fried Potatoes (Patatas Bravas)

In last week’s Dish of the Week post (read here), I told you about the Spanish tapas that Berto and I made for a women’s function at our church. Today we are going to show you how we made two more tapas. There is also a photo of my favourite Spanish lemon cake (with a traditional Camino logo). And, if you use your imagination, you might see a Spanish lady at the end of this post.

Spanish Ham Croquettes (Croquetas de Jamón)

The Spanish Ham Croquettes were the most popular tapas at our women’s function. It’s not difficult to make, but it is quite time consuming. So, if you plan on making it, make enough for an army!

Put it on the table:

In Spain they use Serrano ham, but we only had a few strips of this to use for garnish. I would say you can substitute with the ham of your choice and it will still turn out delicious.

Ingredients for Spanish Ham Croquettes

200g Serrano ham (or any good quality ham)

50g butter

50g all-purpose flour

750ml milk

salt & pepper, to taste

2 eggs, beaten

Breadcrumbs

Oil to fry

Cut the ham into small cubes. Heat a small amount of olive oil in a pan and sauté the ham for about 5 minutes, until it’s golden brown.

Diced ham

Sauté ham until golden brown

You are now going to make a white sauce. Add the flour to the ham and stir continuously until the flour turns light brown.

Add the flour and stir continuously

Once the flour is mixed in, gradually add the milk, stirring constantly. Add salt and pepper to taste. It should take about 15-20 minutes for the sauce to thicken. Remember, keep stirring.

Add the milk and stir until it thickens

A good indication that the sauce has thickened sufficiently

Remove the croquette dough from the heat and let it cool to room temperature. Place the mixture in a buttered dish and cover with plastic wrap (this way you prevent a skin from forming). Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour (the longer the better).

Place croquette dough in a buttered dish

To speed up the process of a very cold and manageable croquette dough, we took the dough out of the fridge after an hour and cut it into squares and then rolled them into croquettes. (Tip: Apply a bit of oil to your hands, take one square and shape them into little logs). Refrigerate in the freezer for another hour.

Cut in squares and roll into croquettes

Once the croquettes are out of the freezer, heat a pan with oil on the stove. Bread the croquettes by tossing them in flour, rolling them in beaten egg and then covering them with breadcrumbs.

Breaded croquettes

Fry the croquettes in the hot oil for about 5 minutes, turning them halfway through so they brown evenly. Drain on paper towel to catch excess grease. Let them cool for a few minutes and serve immediately.

Croquetas de Jamón

Spanish Fried Potatoes (Patatas Bravas)

This dish takes fried potatoes to the next level. Some consider it the most popular Spanish tapas and drizzled with bravas sauce it is certainly one of my favourites.

Put it on the table:

Again, you don’t need a lot of ingredients to make this dish. It’s basically fried potatoes with a brava sauce, which can be either spicy or with a sweet/smoked paprika flavour.

Ingredients for Patatas Bravas

For Potatoes:

3 large potatoes, peeled and diced

Olive oil, to fry

Pinch of salt

For Brava Sauce:

¼ cup olive oil

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1 tablespoon corn starch

1 cup (250ml) vegetable stock/broth

½ teaspoon white vinegar

salt, to taste

Boil the potatoes in cold salted water until they are slightly soft. Let it cool while you make the sauce.

Boil potatoes in cold salted water

To make the brava sauce, use a glass bowl to mix all the ingredients (except the vegetable stock and vinegar), before heating it on the stove. Add the oil, paprika and corn starch to a bowl and whisk everything together until well combined.

Whisk oil, paprika and corn starch together

Oil mixture

Pour the oil mixture into a saucepan and heat over medium heat while whisking. Slowly add vegetable stock/broth while whisking continuously. Season with salt and add vinegar. Continue to whisk until everything is combined and the sauce is creamy. Set aside.

Add vegetable stock and vinegar to oil mixture

Heat oil in a pot and fry boiled potatoes until golden brown and crispy (about 20 minutes).

Fry potatoes until golden brown and crispy

I never took a photo of the finished patatas bravas, but basically all you have to do is heat the brava sauce over low heat, whisking the sauce so that it can come back together. Then pour a generous amount of the sauce over the potatoes and enjoy.

As I’ve mentioned earlier, we had a small packet of Serrano ham (thanks to our local store), which we used as garnish between the other tapas.

Serrano ham between our home-made Spanish tapas

Spanish tapas

For dessert, I baked my favourite Spanish lemon cake. It’s always a winner at any event and so easy to make. Click here to see how to make this delicious cake.

Spanish Lemon Cake

There wasn’t much time left to transform myself into a Spanish lady after we prepared all the tapas and cake. The best I could do was put on a cool summer dress and tuck a lovely red hibiscus flower into my hair.

I’m a South African/Spanish lady

It was great fun trying our hand at Spanish tapas. The feedback from the women at the function was quite favourable and they now understand why Berto and I like Spanish food so much.