Cheese and mushroom tartlets

Trim the dried end off the mushrooms, cut off the stems and keep them for the milk, then slice the heads very thinly.

Melt the butter in a pan, add an equal amount of flour and whisk on low heat for three minutes to a slightly coloured roux; two minutes for a white roux. Take off the heat and let it cool.

Put the milk in a pan with the shallot studded with clove, the bay leaf, the mushroom stems, a pinch of salt and pepper; warm gently on low heat until almost boiling, then turn off the heat.

With the heat off, strain the hot milk through a sieve onto the cold roux and whisk to loosen the roux and incorporate the milk.

Bring back to small bubbles, reduce the heat and cook gently while stirring for a good five minutes. Turn off the heat and cover with a plate.

Pan fry the sliced mushrooms in a tablespoon of butter over medium heat with salt and pepper; set aside in a bowl.

Warm the thick, cooled bechamel on very low heat without adding milk until it loosens.

Stir in all the grated cheese, then all the mushrooms; turn off the heat. Alternative: layer bechamel, then mushrooms, then cheese, as Escoffier does.

Mound the filling into the blind-baked tartlet shells and level with a spoon.

Sprinkle a little bread crumbs over each tartlet, working over a plate rather than the baking sheet. The tartlets can be kept in the fridge at this point.

Just before the oven, spoon a little melted butter over each tartlet.

Warm in the oven at 170 degrees on the fan grill (top element) to warm the crust and filling and colour the bread crumbs.

Serve on a platter decorated with a little parsley and mushrooms.