How to make them yourself: Rijsel’s famous cheese croquettes

Amsterdam restaurant Rijsel has been around for almost 10 years, so it’s high time for a new cookbook sharing the well-known recipes for Rijsel classics. The book is packed with typical Rijsel dishes, from cheese croquettes like these to the famous toast cannibale. The recipes are also supplemented with useful kitchen techniques that you can apply straight away while preparing the dishes, making the end result even more delicious!

Pieter: “Nothing beats homemade croquettes. I prefer to make these cheese croquettes with comté, but you can also add some remeker or Noorderkaas if you want a slightly more intense flavour. The combination of fine and coarse breadcrumbs creates an ultra-thin, crispy crust.”

How to make the cheese croquettes

• Soak the gelatine in a bowl of cold water. Grate the comté and gruyère. Stir the egg yolk into the cream.
• Put the butter in a heavy-based saucepan and place over medium heat. Once the butter has melted, add the wheat flour, lower the heat and cook gently for 5 minutes.
• Pour in the cold milk and stir well. Bring to the boil, continuing to stir well. Add the cheeses and keep stirring until the cheese has melted and you have a smooth sauce. Squeeze the gelatine over the pan and stir it in. Turn off the heat and stir in the egg-and-cream mixture. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
• Transfer the ragout to a shallow dish and cover with plastic wrap so that a skin does not form on the surface. Leave to cool in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours, but preferably for a full day (8–12 hours).
• Transfer the cooled ragout to a piping bag and cut off the tip so that you have an opening of approximately 2 centimetres in diameter. Pipe strips of ragout approximately 2 centimetres thick. If you do not have a piping bag, you can also use two spoons to form quenelles. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 2 to 3 hours, until thoroughly frozen.
• Put half of the panko in a food processor and process until fine. If you do not have a food processor, you can also put the crumbs in a plastic bag and crush them with a pan or rolling pin. Add the remaining panko again, so that you have a mixture of fine and coarse breadcrumbs.
• Cut croquettes approximately 5 centimetres long from the piped strips.
• Prepare four bowls for breading. One with the beaten eggs, one with flour, one with fine breadcrumbs and one with the panko. Season the eggs with a pinch of salt.
• Coat each croquette in flour and gently shake off the excess. Then coat the croquette in the beaten egg, followed by the fine breadcrumbs. Dip the croquettes in the beaten egg once more, then coat them in the panko.
• Meanwhile, cut the iceberg lettuce into thin strips (julienne) and the radishes into thin slices. Mix with the cress and dress with lemon juice, olive oil and salt.
• Heat sunflower oil in a (deep-frying) pan to 180 °C. Start with one croquette as a test and fry it for 1½ minutes. If the filling leaks out, add an extra coating by dipping all the croquettes in beaten egg once more, then in the fine breadcrumbs. If your croquette stays intact, this is not necessary and you can continue frying all the croquettes.
• Fry all the croquettes for 1½ to 2 minutes until golden brown and crispy. Do this in batches if necessary, so that there are not too many croquettes in the pan at once. Remove from the oil and drain in the fryer basket or on a baking rack.
• Divide the croquettes among four plates and serve with the fresh salad.

Title: Rijsel
Authors: Pieter Smits and Iwan Driessen
Price: €34,99
Publisher: Fontaine

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