This is one of the most useful things you can learn to make. Once you have it, a dozen dishes open up. It takes ten minutes and three ingredients.
What you need
For a medium batch — enough for a pasta bake or a lasagne for four:
- 50g butter
- 50g plain flour
- 500ml whole milk
- Salt, white pepper, a little nutmeg if you have it
How to make it
Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan over a medium heat. When it is foaming but not browning, add all the flour at once. Stir immediately and keep stirring — a wooden spoon or a small whisk both work. Cook this paste, called a roux, for about two minutes, stirring constantly. It should smell faintly nutty, not raw.
Now add the milk, a little at a time, stirring after each addition until smooth before adding more. Once you have added about half the milk and the sauce is smooth and starting to thicken, you can add the rest more freely. Keep stirring. Bring it gently to a simmer and cook for three to four minutes, still stirring, until thick and glossy.
Season with salt, white pepper, and a scrape of nutmeg.
That is it.
What you can do with it
Use it as it is over vegetables or fish. Add grated cheese to make a cheese sauce for cauliflower, pasta, or a croque monsieur. Stir in cooked chicken and pour into a baking dish under a breadcrumb topping. Use it as the white layer in a lasagne. Make macaroni cheese by combining it with pasta and baking until golden.
Some things in the kitchen come easily and some do not. A friend of mine makes pastry with a lightness that takes years to learn, but a poached egg gives her trouble. She learned this sauce and it changed what she could put on the table. It is a good place to start.
