Croquettes

Sauté with a little olive oil ham, onions, peppers, garlic, and tomato paste in a pan until onions and peppers are soft. Add chopped parsley, cilantro, spices, salt and pepper, and cream.

Sprinkle in flour. Remove from heat and cool slightly. 

In a food processor mix ham mixture until completely blended. Pour in heavy cream. Transfer to a mixing bowl and fold in the shrimp or crawfish tails.

Combine bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese in a deep dish bowl; set aside. In another deep dish pan whisk the eggs. Using a large spoon, form ham and crawfish mixture into croquettes. Gently dip each croquette in the egg bath then the bread crumb mixture; place on a baking sheet; refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight or freeze for use a few days later. Prior to serving, fry until golden brown in a deep fryer or a deep cast-iron pot with canola or peanut oil.

Creamy Salsa Verde

In a food processor pulse a handful of cilantro and parsley.

Add garlic clove. Pulse. Add juice of of squeezed lime, Pulse.

Add the olive oil a little bit at a time and lightly mix. Remove sauce from the food processor and add salt and ground black pepper to taste. Serve with the croquettes.

Excerpted from New Orleans con Sabor Latino, by Zella Palmer Cuadra. Published by University Press of Mississippi