BÉCHAMEL SAUCE

After I mentioned Lasagna, you would have had to guess - correctly - that this would be the next step in preparation for a Lasagna Bolognese and a surprise or two to come along the way. 

There are two schools of thought about this sauce, the first being that it is a French sauce and the other being that it was Italian before it ever became French. It is a very well known culinary fact that Catherine de Medici brought many cooks and countless dishes to the French table when she married Henry II in 1541 (she even brought table manners to France!). In his Le Cuisinier François published 110 years later (in 1651) François-Pierre la Varenne called it a velouté. Even the bible of culinary arts Larousse Gastronomique fails to give more than a cursory paragraph describing the ingredients and the method. Legend has it that it was named after the Marquis de Béchamel. Whatever the case may be, it is a basic marriage of melted butter and flour (the roux) blended with scalding milk. 

Béchamel Sauce or La Besciamella

4 tbs. unsalted butter

4 tbs. flour

3 cups milk

salt and white pepper to taste

2-3 dashes of nutmeg

Place the milk on the stove over moderate heat, allow to come to the scalding point but do not boil (180º). While milk is heating, melt the butter in a larger saucepan. When the butter has stopped bubbling and has just started to brown, pour the flour into the butter and stir with a wooden spoon. Turn down the heat to low and continue to stir until all the flour has dissolved into the butter. Continue to stir until the mixture turns a light brown and emits a nutty aroma. The milk should be have reached the simmer by the time the butter has browned. Remove the butter from the heat and begin to pour in the milk. With a whisk, immediately start beating in the rest of the liquid. Place over the heat and bring to the boil, constantly whisking, and let the sauce thicken and boil for about 6-8 seconds on the heat. Remove from the heat and add the seasoning. You should have a thick, creamy sauce. If it is too thick, add a little milk or cream to even out the sauce. If you're not going to use the sauce immediately, dot the top with pieces of butter and cover with plastic wrap and keep warm on the stove until ready to use. 

This white sauce is the base for a Lasagna Bolognese. You can add 1 cup of Grana (to use Parmigiano-Reggiano  would be wasteful in my estimation) or Pecorino Romano and/or a variety of cheese (Taleggio, Fontina, Gruyere, etc.; NOT mozzarella). For my own lasagna (recipe to follow at a later, more seasonal, date), I sometimes add chopped spinach which has been cooked with butter and olive oil, shallots, and bits of pancetta or ham. The variations, however,  are endless.

N.B. Béchamel does not refrigerate well, but if you do refrigerate it, you can reheat it by adding driblets of hot milk. Reheating in the microwave* is not recommended.

* I LOATHE cooking with the microwave oven. There is something horridly wrong about it and I mistrust it intensely; it takes the soul out of food, and, therefore, eating. It is a crime against nature. Reheating leftover Chinese takeout is about as far as I'll go.