Mostly-Local Chicken Croquettes

So I had this almost-entirely-uneaten roast chicken leftover. Whoops. Sometimes I find that I get a little over-enthusiastic at the buying end of things, given how little my family eats at the dining end of things. Today I set it in a pot to make some stock (this week, with a piece of green garlic - apparently just immature regular garlic - a carrot, a hunk of yellow onion, a fistful of fresh sage, a sprig of fresh rosemary, and a handful of Christmas spinach), but wondered what on earth I'd do with that much boiled chicken meat? Usually, I end up with more meat than I can use with the broth from a well-used carcass.

And I thought, whatever happened to that chicken croquette recipe I used to like so much? And went and found it, and made some alterations for my own version. I used two cups of the broth, two tablespoons of cornstarch, and a sprinkling each of chicken boullion powder (I have it, time to use it up so I can learn to do without), poultry seasoning, and salt, to make gravy to go over them, like my gramma used to serve when I was a little girl.

I served up brown rice, one of those frozen stir fry vegetable medleys I hate so much, and some Christmas spinach sauteed with another green garlic shoot on the side.



Mostly-Local Chicken Croquettes

3 cups cooked chicken meat
1 1/2 cups whole wheat bread crumbs
1 shoot of green garlic, chopped and sautéed
1 teaspoon dry parsley (fresh ain't in yet)
1 teaspoon chicken bouillion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons water
3 eggs

Put chicken meat, bread crumbs, green garlic, spices, water, and eggs into food processor with a chopping blade; pulse until finely chopped and well-blended.

Form into patties; sauté until cooked through. Serve with gravy.



What I learned is, first of all, cut the recipe in half for my household. Second of all, whole wheat bread crumbs are DENSE. I added the water to keep it from being too dry, but that didn't help the density any. I'm wondering if, in future, the addition of some romano cheese or something like that would help; I think that's part of what makes my meatballs so soft in comparison to straight whole wheat breadcrumbs. (Those meatballs are a post for another day, when the tomatoes have come into season.)

Something else to experiment with as I go along.

Not local today: all dry spices, chicken bouillion, cornstarch, brown rice, stir fry vegetables, cooking oil, whole wheat bread, eggs