Cooking with Reality Television

Lately our television forays have included reality cooking shows.  Hells Kitchen, Master chef, etc.  They irritate me and inspire me at the same time.  I want to try out. I can't believe how whiny people are. And on and on.

It's gotten me thinking about cooking something in 1 hour. Something better than putting grilled chicken on a salad.

So this week, I've been challenging myself to cook a little bit better.

I practiced one of the mother sauces: Béchamel.  Once you get the hang of it it's really easy.  My old cookbooks have notes in them from Family members called "white sauce".  It's basically that, a sauce that is made up of butter, flour, and milk.  Technically you season it with a little nutmeg alongside the required salt and pepper.  There is so much you can add to this sauce - thus the mother sauce.  My favorite happens to be known as Sauce Mornay, or cheese sauce.  Basically, you make the béchamel, add a bunch of cheese and voila Sauce Mornay.  This folks, is also known as the base for macaroni and cheese.

Boil pasta, toss in Sauce Mornay, slap it in a casserole dish, top with bread crumbs and bake.  Eat awesomeness and call it a good dinner.

I added some grilled chicken that had been marinading in some barbecue sauce.  Yum.

Here's a recipe I found for Bechamel.  I just wing it, and it's usually fine. This week I used low fat milk and it wasn't as heavy.

Ingredients

5 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 cups milk
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg


Directions
In a medium saucepan, heat the butter over medium-low heat until melted. Add the flour and stir until smooth. Over medium heat, cook until the mixture turns a light, golden sandy color, about 6 to 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the milk in a separate pan until just about to boil. Add the hot milk to the butter mixture 1 cup at a time, whisking continuously until very smooth. Bring to a boil. Cook 10 minutes, stirring constantly, then remove from heat. Season with salt and nutmeg, and set aside until ready to use.

If you want to make this into a cheese sauce just whisk in some of your favorite cheese while the sauce if hot.  I used cheddar and parmesan, and added some dijon mustard to add a little zip.