How to make Raymond Blanc's Saint Agur blue cheese croquettes

Makes approximately 30 croquettes

Ingredients

For the croquettes

• 220g frozen peas, defrosted
• 80ml water
• 55g gram flour (chickpea flour)
• 10ml olive oil
• 2g cumin
• 4g sea salt
• 1tbsp lemon juice
• 100g frozen peas, defrosted, roughly chopped in a food processor
• 100g broad beans, roughly chopped in a food processor
• 3g fresh mint, chopped
• 100g Saint Agur blue cheese, crumbled

For the breadcrumb coating

• 50g plain flour
• 2 eggs, medium, organic/free-range, beaten
• 50g panko breadcrumbs

For the Saint Agur purée

• 100g Saint Agur blue cheese crème
• 25g crème fraîche
• 1tsp lemon juice
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper

Method

For the croquettes

Blend the peas and water together in a blender until smooth. Add the gram flour, olive oil, cumin, salt and lemon juice and blend until smooth.

Place the mixture in a heavy-based saucepan, on a medium heat, and cook for 2-3 minutes until it begins to thicken. Now mix in the chopped peas, chopped broad beans, mint and crumbled Saint Agur blue cheese. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Place the mixture onto a piece of cling film and roll into a long sausage shape, approximately 3cm in diameter. Wrap the cling film around the mixture 3 times so that it holds its shape. Tie a knot in the cling film at each end to ensure it is wrapped tightly.

Leave to cool in the fridge for 1 hour until fully set.

Once cooled, remove the mixture from the fridge.

Remove the cling film, cut and divide the mixture into 20g pieces.

Shape into small patties and leave to chill in the fridge while you prepare for the next step.

For the coating

Place the flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs into separate bowls.

First, roll each croquette in the flour and dust off any excess.

Then, dip each croquette in the beaten egg (no more than 5 at a time), followed by rolling each in the breadcrumbs.

With clean hands, re-shape the croquettes if required and place them onto a clean tray lined with greaseproof paper.

Place the tray in the fridge until required. Raymond notes that alternatively, if you wish to cook the croquettes at a later date, you can place them in a freezer bag and store them in the freezer for up to 1 month. They can then be cooked in the fryer from frozen: You will need to cook them for 2-3 minutes until hot in the middle.

For the Saint Agur puré

In a medium bowl, mix all the purée ingredients together.

Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Reserve in the fridge until required.

To cook the croquettes

Pre-heat your fryer to 180°C.

Cook the croquettes in batches of 10 (adjust batch size depending on the size of your fryer) for 1 minute until golden brown on the outside and hot in the middle.

Serve the croquettes immediately, topped with the Saint Agur purée.

Credit: Bord Bia

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