Besciamella – Bechamel – Savoury White Sauce
April 23rd, 2010 by Shue
Besciamella or bechamel sauce is a white sauce where you can find in many Italian dishes. That generally goes into other things, for example lasagna or broiled fennel.
Preparation time: 5 minutes, plus infusing
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
750 ml / 1 1/4 pints milk
1 bay leaf
1 small onion, peeled and stuck with 3 cloves
40 g / 1 1/2 oz butter
2 tbsp plain flour, sifted
pinch of salt
pinch of grated nutmeg
freshly ground black pepper
Directions
1. Put the milk into a pan with the bay leaf and onion.
2. Bring the milk to the boil, remove from the heat and leave to infuse for about 30 minutes. Strain.
3. Meanwhile melt the butter in another pan until bubbles start to form – do not allow the butter to colour.
4. Add the flour and stir over the heat to a thick creamy paste. Gradually stir in the strained milk.
5. Bring the sauce to the boil, stirring and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste and use as required.
Not suitable for storage
Link to this page