DI Recipe

Bachelor Recipe #1

Cheese Sauce

Cheese Sauce isn't so much a recipe as a way of life. Used by chefs the world over, it's derived from that culinary staple, The White Sauce. Key to the method is the roux. Otherwise known as "F & F". The proportions of Fat and Flour will determine how thick the sauce is. After the addition of the milk, stirring and patience determine the smoothness. This recipe favours efficiency over perfection and therefore produces a slightly grainy texture. Live with it. The alternative is stiring over low heat for 20 minutes, (a masochistic feat I reserve only for pudding preparation).

I say "a way of life" because this sauce is part of so much you can do in the kitchen. Teamed with elbow macaroni it's "macaroni & cheese". It can make brocoli and potatoes palatable again. A stir-fry can suddenly become something caserole-like. I've even used it instead of mayonaise in tuna salad.

To put it bluntly, when picking only two posessions to take to a desert island, there would be some cheese sauce right beside those Seinfeld videos.

- grate cheddar cheese, (about 2/3 cup or a big handful). (use any cheese - like goat or brie or swiss)
- saute chopped onion in a saucepan with approx 2 tbsp butter, (med heat)
- heat a mug of milk in the microwave, (very hot).
- when onions are transparent, (not brown), add 1 slightly heaping tbsp of all purpose flour stir.
- after you've stirred the onion-flour-butter for approx 20 seconds, add the hot milk.
- keep stirring - when the mixture begins to thicken, (3 minutes), turn down the heat to just above simmer.
- add the cheese - keep stirring - the sauce should thicken some more
- it's done!

- keep it warm by turning off the burner and putting the lid on the pot. - refrigerate leftovers in the mug you heated the milk in. - the next morning you must make some toast and spread the cold sauce on it. - (further experimentation will give you the consistency you like).

mail the chef ........