Ultimate Cheese Sauce

A good cheese sauce should be in every cook's arsenal and this is my ultimate version. Use for cauliflower cheese, macaroni cheese, as a dip for crudites, heck, just drink it out of the pan!

My recipe uses two types of mustard for a bit of bite and two types of cheeses for depth of cheesy flavour but you can leave out the flavourings and just use one hard cheese if that's all you have. I didn't have any cauliflower in the house, so pictured it actually white cabbage and sprout cheese... experiments encouraged!

Ultimate Cheese Sauce
Serves 4

20g butter
20g plain flour
200ml milk
1 tsp English mustard
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 bay leaf
40g Gruyère, grated
40g mature Cheddar, grated
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in the flour to make a paste and cook gently, stirring, for  5 minutes until toasty brown. Gradually stir in the milk, a little at a time, until smooth. Add the bay leaf and the two mustards.

Cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring continuously, until smooth and thick. Remove from the heat, add the cheeses together with a pinch of salt and plenty of black pepper. Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary.

Pour over cooked pasta or vegetables, grate over a little more cheese and scatter over some breadcrumbs (if you like) then bake in a preheated oven (180C) for 20 minutes until the top is nicely browned.

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