Chic and simple: recipe for the tastiest shrimp croquette

After his first successful book, The Messy Chef Jelle is back with a sequel. In Goei Eten, he shares dishes you look forward to all day and that are so delicious you want to swirl your tongue around the entire plate so you’ve taken in every microscopic crumb. The recipes in Goei Eten are 100% comfort-food-proof and chic and simple at the same time, like this shrimp croque-ette.

Jelle: “I randomly put some coins into the bread machine. The song ‘Every bread you take‘ by Sting sounds like a well-placed coincidence through my earbuds. I laugh about it, given the context. It’s Sunday evening and I’ve just said goodbye to my deep fryer. Frederick, that’s what I called him. Frederick Fryer rarely complained. Until an hour ago. When some of his oil ended up on my hand. Quite painful to experience first-hand what dietitians actually mean by the term ‘fat burning’. I had pulled the not-so-metaphorical plug, with all the consequences that entailed. No shrimp croquettes? The emergency plan was put into action. The shrimp croque-ette. No messing around with gelatin, no dirty hands, and still absolutely delicious!

How to make the shrimp croque-ette

• Take 50 g of the shrimp and chop them very finely. Finely chop the garlic and onion as well. You can also finely grind everything in a food processor.
• Melt the butter and add the mixture of shrimp, garlic and onion. Fry for 1 minute. Add the tomato purée, ketchup and bay leaf. Fry for another 10 seconds. Add the flour and stir well.
• After about 1 minute, deglaze with the whisky and cream and stir so there are no lumps in the sauce. Crumble in the stock cube. Season with pepper and salt.
• When the sauce is thick enough, add the egg yolk and remove from the heat. Add the remaining shrimp (100 g). Leave to cool.
• Take the bread and cut out rectangles. Spread a layer of the shrimp mixture on top and fry until crisp on both sides (in a knob of butter) in the pan or in the oven (10 minutes at 200 °C).
• Serve with a slice of lemon and parsley.

Title: The Messy Chef 2 – Goei eten
Author: Jelle Beeckman
Price: €24,99
Publisher: Borgerhoff & Lamberigts

Read also:

• Shrimp vs. prawn: what’s the difference?
• Amazing! At this Michelin-starred restaurant, you can now pull lobster croquettes from the wall
• Sustainable fish: tuna is a no, mussels are okay

Image: Bram Debaenst