Creamy Crunchy Croquetas de Atun y Limon

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat . Add the cornstarch and cook 3-4 minutes while whisking ,This cooks out the raw starch taste and makes a slightly nutty flavored roux. Add the hot milk while whisking ,and the mixture should immediately leave the sides of the pan, clump in the middle, and be very very thick. The mixture should be smooth(no lumps of flour.) Turn off the heat. Switch to a wooden spoon and add the lemon juice and nutmeg, salt and pepper.
2. With a can opener, open the top of each tuna can all the way, but leave the top in place. Over a bowl, invert each can and squeeze down hard on its contents so that all juices and oil leave the can. (Now give this bowl of juices to your watchful kitty!) Over the saucepan of beschamel, add the tuna while shredding finely with your fingers. Blend thoroughly and adjust seasoning as needed. The goal is a well blended,smooth creamy mixture, not a chunky one, and with a bright lemon flavor (enough so that it won't need more later) spiked by pepper. If the mixture is cooled and set up already, you can proceed to make the croquetas. Otherwise, spread mixture into any spray-oiled 8-9” square pan; cover and refrigerate a few hours or overnight (or a few days) to set up.
3. Remove the pan from the frig, uncover, and cut it into a grid of 4 x 4 squares. Remove each square (a narrow cake spatula or pancake spatula helps) and stand them on end in the pan, leaning against each other. Now roll them all: fold each square lightly in half , and roll in the palms of your hands briefly til you have a smooth 2 1/2” long x 1" Wide, square ended barrel . To get the proper and equal size, I usually end up with only 15. Place them in a shallow oiled pan with edges.
4. Place the panko in a container that has a tight fitting lid. With one hand, place 2 or 3 croquetas at a time into the bowl of well beaten egg. With that same hand, grasp each by its end and flip it lengthwise, rolling them around in the egg. Then place 2 or 3 in the panko.
5. With the other hand, snap on the container lid and gently shake the container to coat the croquetas with panko. With that same other hand, remove them and place them back on the same sheet pan. When all are done, refrigerate 1 hour (or up to 1 day, covered) to set the coating. They should be firm, not limp or squishy .
6. In a medium size saucepan or fryer, heat a 3-4” depth of oil to 370 degrees F. Carefully lower in the croquetas. Depending on the size of your pan, fry about 4-5 croquetas at a time (do not crowd them) for about 5 minutes til medium dark brown. Stir gently after 2-3 minutes to assure their not sticking on the bottom. To test for doneness, remove a croqueta and insert a metal skewer tip into the middle. Upon removal, if the skewer tip is hot, the middle of the croqueta is as well. Drain on rack over thick newspapers . **For some odd reason, these do not hold together when kept for a few days, waiting to be fried. So fry them all after the coating has set up, at which point they can be kept warm or reheated- in a 250 defree F oven. - While I typically squeeze lemon juice on anything fried, these should need no lemon juice or any sauce! - These would make fine hors d'oeuvre if formed into 1 1/2" balls.
7. *Panko is readily found in supermarkets and Asian food stores. For frying, it is hugely superior to bread crumbs because its texture and airiness creates a much crisper crunchier coating. ** Fresh oil is necessary for a clean fried taste. I use about 4 1/2 cups of oil to fry one batch of croquetas. I then filter the cooled oil through a fine sieve and discard the debris from the sieve and the pan. If the oil retains a golden color(unlikely), I may add a bit of new oil to it and use it for one more batch of croquetas, but then I discard that oil after that second batch.