Recipes

Chosen from A Life in the Kitchen by Michel Roux, he writes "This is great as a main course or as a starter. It is best warm, but also very tasty served cold from the fridge. Good-quality bought puff pastry is fine if you don't want to make your own."

Serves 6-8 as a main dish

    375g puff pastry
    1 egg, beaten
    50g mature Cheddar, grated
    150g Gruyere or similar, grated
    700g good-quality cooked ham, sliced thin
   
For the Bechamel sauce
 
    25g butter
    25g flour
    150ml milk
    50ml double cream
    Salt, pepper, nutmeg

Method

First, make the bechamel by melting the butter in a saucepan until it foams. Mix in the flour and gently cook over a low heat for 4-5 minutes, not allowing it to colour. With the pan still on the heat, slowly whisk in the milk and cream, then increase the heat and bring to the boil. Keep mixing well to avoid lumps and burning - the sauce should be quite thick. Season lightly with salt but quite generously with pepper and nutmeg. Pour into a container and cover with a buttered paper to avoid a crust forming. Set the bechamel aside to cool down completely.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out half of the pastry to a rough circle, about 24cm wide. Roll out another circle about 26cm wide. Cover this one and keep it cold.

Preheat the oven to 200C. Place the first pastry circle on a baking tray, brush the edges with beaten egg and put a spoonful of bechamel in the centre of the circle. Spread this over the pastry with a palette knife or the back of the spoon to within 3-4cm of the edges. Sprinkle over a little cheese, followed by some ham. Repeat these layers until all the ham, cheese and bechamel have been used up.

Cover the filling with the other sheet of pastry and press down firmly around the edges to seal. Trim the edges neatly, brush with beaten egg and score the top with the point of a knife to decorate. Make a little hole in the centre of the top of the pie to let out the steam. Bake at 200C for 30 minutes, then turn the oven down to 180C and cook for another 15 minutes. Leave the pie to cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting into slices.