Technical Tuesday - A simple white sauce

Although the title says simple white sauce, trust me, the humble white sauce is anything but that. It is a powerful foundation for many dishes, and, poured over cauliflower or brocolli, a lovely evening meal in winter time. Home made macaroni and cheese (not the packaged american stuff) can be made or broken with the right white (cheese) sauce.

The first time I was taught to make a white sauce, it was 1, 1 and 1. I.e. 1oz of butter, 1oz of flour and 1 pint of milk. So if we translate that into metric, we are looking at

25g butter
25g flour
600ml mile

At a basic level, take a very clean saucepan. Melt the butter in the pan gently, you do not want to make the butter brown (buerre noisette), but gently melted.
When the butter is melted, slowly add the flour and using a metal balloon whisk, stir the flour in. The idea is to make this a smooth paste, but if there are a few small lumos that doesn't matter too much.
Take the pan off of the heat and slowly mix in the milk, using the heat of the pan to help the sauce combine. Keep stirring until you get a smooth sauce and then return the pan to the heat.
Gently bring the sauce to the boil, stirring continuously. Simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring. Season to taste (salt and pepper).

The sauce is now ready. Simple? Yep, in the words of Alexandra Orlov....semples.

So, how do you make this sauce special? Add some cheese...cheddar, stilton...even a red cheese to add some colour. Maybe mix the sauce with some cheese, pour over some cooked pasta and tuna flakes...bake in the oven to get a crispy top....tuna pasta bake.