Bechamel Sauce

Mole's Note:

This is the sauce I use in my lasagna recipe, along with bolognese sauce. It's from the local paper, but considered one of the classic mother sauces.

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 8

Yield: 4.0 Cups

• 5 tablespoons butter
• 1 onion
• 1 tablespoon black pepper (fresh ground)
• 1/2 teaspoon clove (ground)
• 2 large bay leaves, broken
• 3 large garlic cloves, crushed
• 4 1/2 tablespoons flour
• 4 1/2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leave
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Set 4 QT saucepan over medium heat, add butter, onion, pepper, cloves, bay leaves,.
2. and garlic. Sautee until aromatic, about 4 minutes.
3. Blend in the flour and stir about 3 minutes.
4. Gradually add the milk and stir until it boils lightly (may need to increase to Med-High heat).
5. Once boils, lower heat and simmer uncovered about 8 minutes, or until sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon and has no raw flour taste.
6. Pour through a fine strainer, stirring and pressing to extract all the flavors. Stir in the cream, salt (add to taste, may not need the entire TSP) and finally the thyme.
7. Use immediately.

Reviews

[Golden Sunflower]

Wonderful sauce. I used this for my stuffed shells with ground turkey and ricotta cheese. Yummy!

[Dotalee]

Loved the taste. It was very easy to make.This is my second time making it. Didn't have any heavy cream on hand, so I left it out. It was still great, and probably less calories. Used it for vegetable lasagna, and family loved it too.

[FLKeysJen]

Delicious!! I used this for the white sauce in Ivo's Mutant Ricotta-Less Lasagna Ivo's Mutant Ricotta-Less Lasagna (http://www.recipezaar.com/131606) but it was so easy I'm going to start using it as the base for other dishes. It's yummy and makes the house smell good!