Ingredients

• 75g/2¾oz butter
• 275g/9¾oz plain flour
• 500ml/18fl oz milk
• 75g/2¾oz fresh breadcrumbs
• 150g/5½oz Manchego cheese
• cubed
• 1 small bunch fresh parsley
• chopped
• 2 free-range eggs
• beaten
• 100g/3½oz Japanese panko breadcrumbs
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 200g/7oz padron peppers
• coarse sea salt
• 100g/3½oz Iberico ham or pata negra ham
• to serve

Directions

• Melt the butter in a large saucepan
• whisk in 200g/7oz of the flour and cook for 2-3 minutes. Whisk in the milk slowly until you have a very thick sauce. Season with salt and pepper.
• Stir in the fresh breadcrumbs
• cheese and parsley. Put in the fridge to chill for 3-4 hours. Shape the chilled mixture into 7cm/2¾in cylinders.
• Preheat a deep-fat fryer to 170C or half fill a deep heavy pan with oil and heat until a breadcrumb sizzles and turns brown when dropped in. (Caution: Hot oil can be dangerous. Do not leave unattended.)
• Put the remaining flour
• the eggs and panko breadcrumbs in three separate bowls. Coat each croquet in the flour
• then egg and finish with a layer of breadcrumbs.
• Deep fry the croquetas in batches until golden-brown. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.
• For the padron peppers
• heat a frying pan until hot and add the olive oil. Add the peppers and fry
• continually moving them around for about 3-4 minutes
• or until the skin is blistered. Sprinkle over the sea salt and stir.
• Divide the croquetas
• padron peppers and ham between four plates and serve.