Bechamel sauce recipe

Bechamel Sauce Recipe

This sauce has become popular for its use in the preparation of gratin dishes that contain pasta or vegetables, alone or with meat or fish. Today it is so popular that it can be found packaged (usually in tetrabrick) and ready to be used in the refrigerated area of grocery stores. The recipe for this sauce has not changed substantially over the years, although the number of ingredients that can be incorporated to enrich its flavor has been increasing. The bechamel sauce is a "mother sauce", the base of many other sauces.

Bechamel Sauce Recipe

For its preparation, it must be taken into account that the roux must be mixed with the dairy products in a proportion of 35 g per liter of dairy products.When it is made, the fatty substance (oil, butter, margarine, fat, etc.) is heated and Add the flour, stirring until it begins to form bubbles but does not turn brown. To carry out this operation, an appropriate container must be used in which it is suitable to stir with a wooden spoon to avoid the formation of possible lumps. It is advisable to pour the flour out of the source of fire, to avoid the appearance of lumps, as when pouring dairy products. A whisk can be used to facilitate operation.

The many possible variations of the bechamel sauce allow you to incorporate cheeses, as in the Mornay sauce. You can also incorporate finely chopped ingredients such as sautéed onion or all kinds of meats, vegetables or fish, as when preparing croquettes, stuffed with peppers or to make the famous French soufflé. Some of the variations are famous, as in the case of the Villeroy sauce, which is used in the batters of some dishes such as Villeroy chicken. When mustard and white wine are added, you have the Thermidor sauce, used in the preparation of fish or seafood (Thermidor lobster).

Another possible variation is to make it, for example, with soy milk, being then suitable for vegans and lactose intolerant. It also lends itself to being flavored with all kinds of spices such as curry or nutmeg. Likewise, corn starch can be used instead of wheat flour, then suitable for people intolerant to gluten (such as celiacs) .

Preparation of Bechamel Sauce Recipe :

Bechamel is a sauce with great relevance in the kitchen, since it is a sauce originally from French gastronomy that has been used for several centuries. Currently it is a sauce that is used in very diverse dishes, ranging from all kinds of pasta to fish, through vegetables and meats. It is especially used to gratin it on the preparations in which it is used, although on other occasions it is used as a base to make croquettes for example, or as a base for other different sauces.

To make the bechamel, you have to calculate the amount that we are going to need, so if you need to prepare more volume than we propose, you simply have to adjust the ingredients maintaining the proportion between them, so that the bechamel continues to come out perfect. We will begin to prepare it by heating a pan or a saucepan of adequate size, to which we will add the butter so that it melts. We will do it over medium heat, to avoid overcooking and burning the ingredients.

Once the butter has melted, we are going to add the flour and we will integrate it with the butter using a kitchen trowel or a few rods, so that they mix well without forming lumps. We are going to stir until we have a homogeneous mixture, with patience, so that the flour cooks at the same time, so the bechamel will be perfect because we will prevent it from tasting like raw flour. We will stir until the mixture is well formed.

The next step will be to add the milk, which should be at room temperature or warm, so that it binds better with the previous mixture. As we add a stream of it, we will stir with the rods so that the milk is integrated, until we finish pouring it all over the pot or pan. Once we have poured in all the milk, we add salt and pepper to taste and add a little nutmeg to the bechamel sauce, and continue stirring while keeping the heat rather soft.

This step is essential so that the bechamel remains at its point, since we have to continue stirring it until it takes the ideal texture, which will be the moment when the dough is completely detached from the container when moving it. We will correct the point of salt, pepper and nutmeg, and at that moment we can remove our bechamel sauce from the heat. As we want we can make it more or less dense, depending on the use we are going to give it, which we will control by letting it simmer for longer if it is not thick, and adding more milk if it is too dense.

Servings / Units: 1
Approximate Preparation Time: 15M
Approximate Calories: 125

Ingredients:

It is true that with these pasta recipes that include sauces with bechamel or cream, you have to be careful and take them only from time to time, due to their caloric content. Of course, do not abandon pasta because carbohydrates are very important in children's nutrition.

- Macaroni
- Homemade tomato sauce
- Bechamel sauce
- Chorizo, sausages or whatever you like the most.
- Grated cheese

Preparation of Baked macaroni gratin:

To prepare our baked macaroni we must first cook the pasta following the instructions and the set time and once cooked, without soaking in water so as not to remove the starch, we reserve by bathing it in a drizzle of oil so that it does not cake.

We fry the chorizo, sausages or whatever you have chosen, then drain it on absorbent paper to avoid excess oil and reserve. Meanwhile we are preparing the homemade tomato sauce. In a saucepan with the bottom of oil, fry a small chopped onion. Add 1 kg of peeled tomatoes (you can blanch them in boiling water to make it easier) and split (removing the seeds), the bay leaf and the salt. Let it simmer for half an hour or so. Towards the end of cooking the sugar is added. It is crushed and it is passed through the Chinese, the masher or it is left without passing if you like to notice the pieces.

At the same time that the tomato sauce is made, we prepare our bechamel sauce. Melt the butter, mix with the flour and stir for a minute over medium heat. Then we set aside and let it cool. When the milk is boiling we add little by little mixing until there are no lumps. We return to the fire and let it cook, stirring from time to time, for about 10 minutes. At the end we add the salt, the freshly ground black pepper and the nutmeg.

The time has come to put the last touch on our macaroni. We mix the pasta with the chorizo and the tomato sauce and put in a dish suitable for the oven. We pour the bechamel sauce on top and finally the grated cheese. Gratin until the surface is golden brown and… now you can enjoy these baked macaroni with chorizo and bechamel!