Bechamel and some variations

Ah...Bechamel. I love this stuff. It can either take no time at all and just be creamy and buttery or you can spend a bit more time and turn it into creamy, buttery, savory deliciousness. It is a pretty standard roux based sauce and can be taken in many different directions.

A roux is flour cooked in fat until it is a certain color (from "blonde" to dark) and is used to thicken hot liquids. What makes this sauce a bechamel (as opposed to an Espagnole or Veloute sauce, which are also thickened with roux) is the addition of milk (instead of some kind of meat stock).

Herb infused Bechamel:

1 Cup Milk (non fat is fine)
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
sprig of rosemary, thyme, sage, etc...
1 bay leaf
Roux: (More roux will make a thicker sauce, less roux will make a thinner sauce)
1 Tbs. butter
1 Tbs. flour
Salt and Pepper to taste

First warm the milk in a medium saucepan until almost boiling. Toss in the onion, garlic, herbs, and the bay leaf and let all this steep in the hot milk for about 10 minutes.


In the mean time melt the butter in a separate pan until bubbly. Toss in the flour and whisk in to form a batter. This is your roux and forms the thickening agent for the sauce. Cook this however long you like while whisking nearly continuously. However, keep in mind that the darker the roux gets, the toastier your sauce will taste and the less efficient it will be at thickening your liquid. So, if you want a really dark roux, make a little bit more than you would otherwise so it thickens your sauce how you expect it to.

Pour in about half of the hot liquid while whisking (making sure to get into the corners of the pan). This will thicken very quickly; as it does add about another fourth of the milk. Do this one more time as the sauce thickens.

You're aiming for something like this. Season with salt and pepper and you're good to go.

Something I threw together:
This is a variation that I threw together for a crepe dinner I made Sarah for her birthday. Instead of using 100% milk as the liquid I combined 50% milk and 50% veggie stock. Before adding the flour to the butter I sauteed an extra clove of garlic and about 1 tsp. of red pepper flake. After the sauce had thickened I added an extra 2 Tbs. butter, about 2 Tbs. brandy, and 1/4 grated Romano cheese to finish it off. This went over a caramelized red onion, mushroom, and chard filled crepe. mmm.

Something Sarah threw together:
To go over some quick mushroom ravioli on one of our busier nights Sarah combined the leftover bechamel-y sauce from the crepe dinner with a few spoon fulls of our pizza sauce that we keep in the freezer. This was so much better than any marinara sauce we could have come up with.