Chicken croquettes

Once upon a time, a long time ago, I bought a notebook to write down my mother's recipes. I was leaving home and I didn't want to live without her cooking. This is one of those recipes, homemade croquettes. It has took me several trial and error years to reach my mother's level. I've finally did it. What I'm never achieving is not to get dirty by doing them, like my grandmother Antonia. I only saw her making them once, but she was able to form them all alike ( same size and shape) without getting her fingers dirty. She was an artist.

My mother's chicken croquettes
About 26 medium pieces

Ingredients:
Half a roasted chicken, and its sauce4 tablespoon flour2 big garlic cloves1 heaping teaspool kosher salt1/2 liter milk3 tablespoons olive oilbreadcrumbs and egg to coat
olive oil to deep fry
Method:
Bone and skin the chicken. Shred chicken meet with your fingers.
Peel and crush garlic cloves in a mortar with salt. Reserve.In a big skillet, put the 3 tablespoon olive oil. When it's warm, add shreded chicken meet and its sauce.
After a couple of minutes, add flour. Stir and let golden.Add all at once the milk, always stirring.
Add crush garlic and salt.Let shimer over low heat. The dough should be rather solid, so that when it's cold we can form the croquettes. When it's like that, pull away from heat and let cool down.Put plenty breadcrumbs in a bowl and beat two eggs in another. Shape croquettes with two spoons or with your bare hands. I always star with the spoons, then loose my patience and end up with my hands. Roll each croquette first in the egg and the in the breadcrumbs. Reserve on a plate.
Heat the olive oil in a deep skillet or frying pan if you have one over medium-high heat.
When the oil starts to smoke, fry the croquettes.Serve hot.
These are chicken croquettes, but you can also make them with soup meat, fish leftovers, canned tuna, cured ham cubes... wahtever you feel like!