Ham and cheese croquettes

Made croquettes freeze and keep a very long time; fry one or two straight from the freezer.

Melt the butter in a saucepan on low to medium heat.

Add all the flour and mix it into the butter; cook the roux three minutes on low to medium without taking any colour -- this is a white roux.

Turn the heat off and leave the roux on the side of the stove to cool. The method is a warm milk onto a cold roux.

In a second saucepan with the heat off, put the milk with a small bay leaf, a little thyme, half an onion stuck with a clove, about two mushrooms cut in quarters, a little salt and a pinch of pepper.

Warm the milk slowly on medium to infuse it. Cayenne pepper and nutmeg are alternatives here.

While the milk warms, grate the cheese and blend the ham in a small food processor.

With no heat under the pan, pour some of the infused milk through a sieve onto the cold roux and whisk it in; it goes very thick straight away.

Pour in all the rest of the milk, whisk, put the heat back on medium and bring the bechamel to the boil.

Once it is bubbling, whisk in all the cream, gently.

On very low heat, stir in the grated cheese in stages with a wooden spoon, letting each addition melt before adding more. Go easy on extra salt because the cheese is salty.

Variation: divide the bechamel. Half stays as the cheese version; stir the blended ham through the other half. Mushroom can go in too.

Spread each half flat on a tray so it cools as fast as possible.

Press cling film onto the surface of the bechamel so no dry crust can form, and refrigerate 15 to 20 minutes until cold and solid -- the freezer for 10 minutes if in a hurry.

Take the cold bechamel out in blocks. Portion it with a spoon to about the size of a small egg so the croquettes match.

With clean hands, shape each portion into a little cork and roll it in flour.

Coat in beaten egg using your hands, three or four at a time, without pressing marks into them; wash your hands between batches.

Roll in breadcrumbs until fully and evenly coated.

Heat the oil to 180 degrees Celsius, about 350 Fahrenheit. The temperature is critical: at 350 the egg cooks and solidifies immediately into a crust, so the bechamel cannot escape. Too cool and it melts away; do not go much over 450, 460 max, or the breadcrumb burns before the inside is hot.

Lower the croquettes in one at a time and fry without turning or touching them until the breadcrumb is golden, about one minute; unfrozen ones break open easily.

Serve hot, two or three to a small plate.