Crunchy Ossau-Iraty cheese fritters with fresh herbs and chorizo

By Frédéric Coiffé

Ingredients

‐ 180g Ossau-Iraty cheese
‐ 3 or 4 slices of chorizo per person
‐ 70g butter
‐ 70g flour
‐ 50cl milk
‐ 3 whole eggs + 4 yolks
‐ 1 bunch of fresh parsley
‐ 700g dry breadcrumbs
‐ 1 fresh lemon zest
‐ Black cherry jam
‐ 10cl olive oil
‐ 50cl cooking oil
‐ Espelette pepper
‐ Freshly-ground salt and pepper

Cooking instructions

Mornay sauce
Melt the butter and add the flour. Cook on a low heat then add the cold milk and bring to the boil. Take off the heat, add the egg yolks and the grated Ossau-Iraty. Mix well, spice and season, pour onto a tray until 4cm thick, then leave to set in the freezer.
To make the batter: mix the whole eggs and olive oil and season. Put to one side. Mix the parsley in a blender. Add 400g of the breadcrumbs and the lemon zest. Mix until the breadcrumbs turn green.

Put the chorizo slices onto a tray and cook in the oven at 100°C for about 40 minutes, turn them over half way through the cooking time. Keep them at room temperature.

The Ossau-Iraty fritters
Take out the Mornay sauce and cut out 4 rectangles of about 5 x 2cm. Dip these rectangles in the batter and cover both sides then coat with the remaining breadcrumbs. Repeat these steps to create a thick crust. Fry the fritters.

Serving
Cut the fritters in four and place them in a plate. Add the fresh herbs. Add the dried chorizo slices, then garnish with some of the black cherry jam.