White sauce
- 30g butter
- 30g plain flour
- 400ml warm milk (or half single cream and half milk, if you want a richer sauce)
- freshly grated nutmeg
- salt and pepper
Instructions:
White sauce, or béchamel, comes in handy for fish pie, moussaka, cauliflower cheese and other vegetable bakes, pies and soufflés. If you warm the milk before you start, it makes things much easier.
- Melt the butter in a small pan over a very low heat without letting it colour. Stir in the flour and cook for 30 seconds or so. Very gradually pour in the warm milk, using a small whisk or wooden spoon quite actively to prevent lumps forming. As it starts to simmer, the sauce will thicken – keep adding more milk, a little at a time, whisking as you go. If lumps do begin to form at the start of the process, let the sauce bubble back into a thick but sloppy paste before adding the milk again, whisking all the time.
- When all the milk has been added, let the sauce cook, with hardly a bubble, for 5 minutes or so, until thick, smooth and creamy. Season with salt and pepper – and a grating of nutmeg, if you like (especially good with lasagne).