Aubergine & Parmesan Croquetas · Karlos Arguiñano

Peel the spring onion and the two garlic cloves and chop both very finely — the pieces should disappear into the béchamel later, so smaller is better.

Heat a generous glug of olive oil in a wide pan over medium-low heat and sweat the onion and garlic for 5–6 minutes, until they turn glassy and smell sweet.

💡 Keep the heat low enough that nothing browns. Browned garlic turns bitter, and in a mild white filling like this there is nothing to hide behind.

Wash the aubergine, trim the stalk and cut it — skin and all — into small dice, about 1 cm. Add it to the pan and season with salt.

💡 Cut small. Big chunks stay as wet pockets inside the croqueta, and a wet pocket is what makes one burst open in the oil.

Cook for 15–20 minutes over medium-low heat, stirring now and then, until the aubergine has completely collapsed and the pan looks dry rather than wet.

💡 Aubergine is mostly water and it releases it late. Stop while the pan is still damp and that water will thin your béchamel an hour later, when it is far too late to fix.

In a separate pot, warm a few tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat, tip in the 75 g of flour and stir it for 1–2 minutes until it smells like toasted biscuit.

💡 That short toasting is what removes the raw-flour taste. Skip it and the finished croqueta tastes faintly of paste no matter how good the cheese is.

Pour in the 750 ml of milk in a thin stream, whisking without stopping. Add maybe a cup, whisk it smooth, then add the next.

💡 Lumps come from dumping the milk in all at once, not from bad whisking. If lumps do appear, a stick blender rescues the sauce completely — no shame in it.

Crumble the stock cube in and cook over low heat for 8–10 minutes, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pot, until the sauce is very thick and a spoon dragged through leaves a trail that stays open.

💡 Thicker than you think is right. Croqueta béchamel has to be firm enough to hold a shape cold, so if it still pours it is not done.

Take the pot off the heat and stir in the 75 g of parmesan and the whole pan of cooked aubergine. Mix hard until it is one uniform mass, then taste and correct the salt.

💡 Taste it now — this is the last moment you can fix the seasoning. Once it is chilled and shaped, a bland croqueta stays bland.

Spread the mixture into a shallow dish in a layer about 2 cm deep, press cling film directly onto the surface, and let it cool. Then refrigerate for at least 2 hours — overnight is better.

💡 The film has to touch the surface or a rubbery skin forms and you will find leathery flakes in your croquetas. And do not shorten the chilling: warm mixture cannot be rolled, full stop.

Blitz the 80 g of fried corn in a blender or chopper to coarse crumbs, then mix them into the breadcrumbs.

💡 Coarse, not powder. You want visible grit — that is the whole point of the corn, and blitzing it to dust throws the texture away.

Dust the worktop with flour, turn the chilled mass out onto it, and cut it into long strips. Roll each strip under your palms into a cylinder, then cut the cylinder into croqueta-sized pieces.

💡 Flour your hands too, and re-flour them whenever the mixture starts sticking. Some people dip their palms in cold water instead — either works, doing neither does not.

Set out three plates — flour, beaten egg, corn-and-breadcrumb mix. Roll each croqueta through them in that order, pressing the last coating on so it holds.

💡 Keep one hand for the dry plates and one for the egg. Use both hands for everything and within five croquetas your fingers are a breaded club.

Rest the coated croquetas in the fridge for 20 minutes while the oil heats. Bring a deep pan of olive oil to about 180°C — a crumb dropped in should bubble up immediately.

💡 That rest sets the coating and is the best insurance against bursting. Chilled croqueta, hot oil — that is the pairing that works.

Fry in small batches for 1.5–2 minutes, turning them once, until they are a deep even gold. Lift them onto kitchen paper.

💡 Four or five at a time, no more. The inside is already cooked — you are only colouring the crust, so a crowded pan just means pale, greasy croquetas.

Serve them hot, scattered with parsley. They are meant to be eaten standing up, straight from the plate.