Chickpea Croquettes & Paella Pollo

While at the Disneyland resort area this past week, my boyfriend and I decided to dine at a restaurant that offered so many different and delicious options that it was hard to choose what we wanted to try. We opted for chickpea croquettes as an appetizer, and decided to split a dish called paella pollo as our entree.

Chickpea Croquettes

A croquette is a small breadcrumbed fried food roll (which can also be baked) which in this case is made mainly of chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans). It reminded me of the greek falafel, which is basically made the same way. Croquette comes from the french word croquer, "to crunch". Cilantro, a herb, was served on top of the croquettes, and sauces were provided for dipping- cucumber tzatiki and hot sauce. I really enjoyed this appetizer because of its uniqueness. It was indeed crunchy, and while the croquettes may look quite interesting, they were very tasty and the sauces really helped to bring out the flavor of this dish.

Paella Pollo

Paella is a rice dish from Spain, originating in Valencia. Ingredients include roast chicken, chorizo de Bilbao (sausage), asparagus, piquillo peppers, saffron bomba rice, and lemon garlic aioli (a sauce). The way this dish was seasoned was amazing. There were so many delicious flavors! It was very filling- we split this entree and still had to take part of it home. The saffron rice, with the cooked tomatoes and peppers bringing out great flavor, was my favorite part of this dish. Also, I usually do not like sausage, but chorizo is somehow different than a typical sausage. The way it is cooked and seasoned makes it ten times better. We were very impressed with both our appetizer and entree selections, and eating the paella pollo made me interested in learning more about Spanish cuisine- maybe I will look up some interesting Spanish recipes and blog about them soon :)