Back to basics time today 🙂
Here is a pictorial on the Béchamel or white sauce. It is simply flour roasted in butter and then milk added to it gradually till it thickens. It is then seasoned with salt and pepper to get the basic white sauce. Grated cheese may be added once it is off the heat to get cheese sauce. I use it for pastas and au gratins and for quick lunch box fixes like this Mixed Vegetable Macroni
Ingredients
APF/Maida- 1 Tbsp
Butter- 1 ½ Tbsp
Milk- One cup (May add more to get a thinner sauce)
Salt- ½ Tsp
Black pepper- ½ tsp
Grated cheddar cheese- ½ cup (optional)
Heat the butter in a saucepan.
Keeping the heat on medium, add the flour and roast till it changes colour slightly.
We are looking for a blonde/ dark cream colour. This is the roux. Keep stirring at all times. It burns very quickly.
Add the milk gradually, stirring non-stop, till all the milk is used up.
Stir well and cook another couple of minutes and your basic white sauce is ready.
Season it with salt and pepper.
To get a cheesy sauce, add half a cup of grated cheddar after talking the sauce off the heat.
Mixed Vegetable Macaroni
Here is a quick Mixed Vegetable Pasta just perfect for the lunch box.
For this, as soon as the sauce begins to thicken ,I throw in half a cup of mixed vegetables chopped very fine and half a cup of boiled macaroni.
Add some oregano or herb spice mix, stir and done!
I skip the cheese for the lunch box as in makes the sauce sticky on cooling down.
This pasta went to school with some stuffed focaccia. You can find the recipe for the basic Focaccia here. I just stuffed it with some stir fried vegetables and cheese. Then rolled it and baked in a loaf tin.
I am a happy Mommie when the Lunch box comes back all clean!
CafeGarima 
White sauce is my all time favorite:) Garima,your post reminded me that I didn’t cook white sauce recent days, yummy pasta
Thanks a lot Vidya. Recently did a lunch box post on CAL and many friends there wanted the basic bechamel recipe so I thought of doing it. The pasta is super quick stuff but turns out nice 🙂
Yes totally agree:) its 4.50 am here and I am drooling seeing your post. You shouldn’t do this to me:)
Vidya..you are too kind! What are you doing up at this hour?
Have a great day ahead 🙂
Garima, my LO woke up so after making him sleep I was browsing for sometime
Aah! Hope you caught up on some sleep eventually 🙂
Yes Garima:)
Good to hear 🙂
🙂
Lol:)
Yummmyyyy… Garima… Rock star ho tum…. 🙂
Thanks dear buddy! Going to pasta your style soon! ❤
Drooling!
Thanks a big bunch 🙂
Just lovely 🙂
Thank you so much 🙂
I repeat……..nasik is THE destination 😀 My kid will go overboard when she sees these pics 🙂
Andy ❤ will love the day when we sit together over a cuppa! Kiddo can have a Big serving for pasta with the bread of her choice. Thanks Hon 🙂
Hello Garima. I have been following your posts on CAL and simply love this particular one. I am fond of white sauce pasta and the other day I did try this after seeing your lunch box post. I got it slightly thicker, cos of my bad! I added in extra maida thinking it wasnt enough… should have listened to you when you warned that it thickens as it cools 😛 And i guess, i also added in more veggies and pasta in proportion to the sauce. Now, this pictoral recipe of yours is so clear, am sure to get it right next time. Thanks a lot for this post 🙂
Hey Nandita
Thank you so much for visiting and sharing this with me. I am happy you like the pictorial. Yes, I always keep the sauce thinner than usual and the a generous proportion of the sauce vis-a-vis the veggies, so that it remains nice even after cooling down in the lunch box 🙂
Happy Cooking 🙂
I love your recipes.I am just a beginner .When we add maida to the butter ,it instantly absorbs the butter and forms a big lump .I added milk immediately and the sauce turned out really good.Any suggestions to not get lumps ?
Hi
Thank you so much for the lovely words 🙂
Keep the heat slow and stir, If you feel maida absorbs all the butter, add some more butter. It should be like breadcrumbs. Also, whisk well as you add the milk.
Hope this helps 🙂