Crispy crab balls with romesco sauce
A much-loved thing goes by many names, and whether you call these bolinhos, fritters or croquetas makes no difference. Good is what they are. And although this recipe looks like a lot of work, it really isn't.
Christopher Davidsen
Ingredients
For the romesco sauce
- ml Olive oil
- g Grilled peppers, tinned
- g Sun-dried tomatoes
- Green chilli
- Garlic cloves
- Shallots (medium)
- tbsp Hazelnuts (skins removed)
- Slices of white bread
- tbsp White wine vinegar
- tbsp Coriander, finely chopped
For the crab and potato balls
- g Crabmeat (a mix of white and brown)
- g Floury potatoes, peeled (such as Maris Piper)
- Garlic cloves
- ml Olive oil
- tbsp Parsley, chopped
- Salt, pepper and cayenne pepper, to season with
For the frying batter
- tbsp Plain flour
- tbsp Cornflour
- tsp Ground fennel
- tsp Tabasco
- Sparkling water
Instructions
Romesco sauce
Put a pan over a medium heat and add the olive oil.
Roughly chop the chilli and fry it gently for a minute.
Then add the garlic, the roughly chopped shallot and the bread to the pan with the chilli. Fry gently for 5-6 minutes.
Tip this into a bowl, add the sun-dried tomatoes, hazelnuts and tinned peppers and blitz with a stick blender. You want a thick paste.
If the paste comes out too dry you can loosen it with olive oil; if it's too loose, blitz in a bit more bread.
Right at the end, mix in the herbs and the white wine vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Crab and potato balls
Cook the potatoes and garlic together until the potatoes are completely tender. Drain and steam the potatoes completely dry.
Crush the potato and garlic together in a bowl and stir in the crab along with the olive oil.
Season to taste with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper and shape the mixture into small balls about the size of a table tennis ball.
Put the balls in the freezer so they firm up and don't fall apart when they go into the hot oil later.
Batter and frying
Mix all the dry ingredients and loosen with the sparkling water until you have a thick batter.
Set up a station with plain flour in one bowl and the batter in another. Turn the crab balls in the flour first, then dip them twice (!) in the batter.
Deep-fry them at 165°C until golden and crisp. This takes about 2-3 minutes.
Serve them with the romesco sauce and enjoy.
For the romesco sauce
For the crab and potato balls
For the frying batter
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Christopher Davidsen
