For my mother-in-law’s birthday, she took me to a cooking class.
But it’s not like it sounds. We get along very well. She knows I love to cook, and so she invited her daughter and me to learn how to make tiramisu, lasagna, and sauteed kale at the Viking cooking school in Greenwood a few weeks ago.
First, we made spinach pasta of flour, salt, eggs, and cooked spinach.
Or, to be more specific, I broke the food processor as we mixed the ingredients. “I’ve never heard it make that noise before!” our chef yelped. It was a proud moment for me.
After that, we were the group our chef “helped” as a sample for all the other groups. Ahem.
My sister and mother-in-law created a custard and soaked ladyfingers in coffee. We layered those and cocoa powder in stemmed glasses to make individual tiramisus.
We pressed out our pasta into lasagna noodles. (Please note that I did not break the pasta machine.) Then we made what our chef called a bechamel sauce to layer alongside the noodles, Parmesan, and red sauce we were using for the lasagna.
As it turns out, bechamel sauce is a fancy word for the white sauce my Home Economics-teaching aunt told me how to make when she gave me the recipe for her macaroni and cheese. I’ve since used it to make faux alfredo sauce, homemade cream-of-whatever soup, cheese sauce for vegetables, and of course my aunt’s delicious macaroni and cheese.
Honestly, white sauce is my favorite way to make something out of nothing when we are low on groceries or I need to impress a crowd. For that reason, I consider it one of the most important recipes I can make and was surprised to learn that my sister-in-law, a whiz in the kitchen and a mother of four, had never made it before.
I’m sharing the basic recipe here with a few variations to help you see how many ways you can use it. The version here is what my aunt would probably call a “medium” white sauce. To make a thinner version, use a tablespoon less flour. To make a thicker one, use a tablespoon more flour.
Amelia Plair is a mom and high school teacher in Starkville. Email reaches her at [email protected].
BECHAMEL
(Medium white sauce)
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups milk (or 1 cup broth and 1 1/2 cups milk to make a cream-of soup)
Salt and pepper (to taste)
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