Turkey & Ham Croquettes (a la Monica) Make sure you know h…

First, take off all the bits of white and brown meat from the turkey. No cartilage bits or fat. Crispy skin is fine.

With the ham, cut off a few lean pieces.

Shred both meats to small, crumbly bits in a Magimix. There will be a large mound.

Leave aside.

Now, make a Béchamel sauce that will bind the bits together
First, make a ROUX: microwave a quarter of good butter (not marge or spread) and into
the liquid butter add plain flour and beat slowly with a spoon until you get a soft paste. Season lightly. You now have your ROUX.

Put half a pint of good quality WHOLE milk in a saucepan.
Now, heat your whole milk *gently*, add some black pepper and IF you want cheese: grate in
some blue cheese/cheddar/Gouda into the milk. (I love blue cheese! - stilton etc)

Add a teaspoon of the ROUX paste and keep stirring with a (non electric) hand whisk, to soften the roux into the milk.
Keep adding teaspoons of the roux until the milk mixture starts to thicken.

Bash any lumps until you have a smooth cream consistency. (strain out any lumps).

It should have a binding consistency, like a thick custard.

Leave to cool.

When cool, add the turkey/ham crumbs to the béchamel sauce. Mix well. Season.
Leave to cool. Then put mixture in fridge to chill for an hour, or more. (Go for a long walk!)

Prepare two big shallow bowls.

Put three egg YOLKS into one bowl and mix until you have a yellow yoke liquid.

Put a mound of fresh breadcrumbs in another shallow bowl.

Remove chilled béchamel mix from fridge.

Take a palmful of chilled mixture and shape it into a thick sausage size between your palms.

Dip it into the egg mix, cover the whole surface and then dip it into the breadcrumbs & cover completely.

Repeat for all the mixture.

Then chill the croquettes again in the fridge.

When ready to cook, get a deep oil-frying pan and add two bottle of ‘Crisp n Dry” oil (not olive oil or any other sort.) The oil MUST be a deep frying oil.

CAREFULLY, SLOWLY, bring the pan to a roiling boil. DO NOT LEAVE THE PAN UNATTENDED.

Throw bits of bread in to see if they go brown and crisp up. Lift them out with a draining spoon. When the bread bits crisp up within a minute, then you are ready to add the croquettes.

Gently lower two raw croquettes at a time into the hot oil on a wide metal draining spoon. The hot oil will fizz and spit. Be prepared to lower the temperature of the cooking ring if the oil is boiling too fast and hot.

With a skewer, and keeping your hands in oven gloves, gently put three of four holes in each croquette as it is frying (it will get the hot oil into the centre of the thick croquette and will help to cook it).

Lift up the croquettes to check on colour of the breadcrumbed coat.

They should be a rich, brown toasted colour. You can always lift one out to a plate, make a small cut from coating into the centre and check the temperature of the INSIDE of the croquettes with your finger.

If it is cold or barely warm, they need to go back into the hot oil for longer cooking. Usually 8 mins in a roiling boil is perfect but MAKE SURE they are cooked through and hot inside before serving.

Have plates set aside with loads of clean kitchen paper so the oil can drain from the croquettes. Serve with crisp salad, a sharp chutney, beetroot slices, coleslaw.

The hot, crispy, oozy croquettes need nothing more than a sharp side of salad things.

They are HUGELY filling! Enjoy!

Turkey & Ham Croquettes (a la Monica)

Make sure you know how to DEEP FRY before attempting this recipe. Be safe. Wear oven gloves and long sleeves
when dropping/removing croquettes into/from the hot oil.

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Turkey & Ham Croquettes (a la Monica)Make sure you know how to DEEP FRY before attempting this recipe. Be safe. Wear oven gloves and long sleeves when dropping/removing croquettes into/from the hot oil.

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Turkey & Ham Croquettes (a la Monica)

Make sure you know how to DEEP FRY before attempting this recipe. Be safe. Wear oven gloves and long sleeves
when dropping/removing croquettes into/from the hot oil.