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Parmesan Besciamella
This white sauce is packed with flavor from bay, basil and Parmesan and gets a hint of heat from red pepper flakes. The finished besciamella can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to two days.
3
Cups
Don’t allow the sauce to cool completely before straining. It flows more easily through the mesh of the strainer when warm and fluid.
40 minutes
Ingredients
-
6
tablespoons (¾ stick) salted butter, cut into 6 pieces
-
¼
cup all-purpose flour
Pardon the interruption
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GET DIGITAL & PRINTIs salted butter an absolute requirement? Can I use the same quantity of unsalted butter with some amount of added salt?
Just wanted to put my two cents in here.
I reduced the sauce another 10-ish minutes on top of whats listed and it reduced/thickened beautifully.
From all the ingredients, it made just enough to coat 3 thin layers for the lasagna. Tasted amazing.
If I'm unable to get fresh basil could I use some dried? Maybe if I wrapped it in some cheese cloth or some typr of tea strainer? Also fresh parm is tough to get in the woods we live in. Going to have to try using name brand packaged stuff from the cheese cooler. Its presliced pretty thin, should I chop it to make it finer? I think they add cornstarch to the presliced stuff so I wonder if I should cut back on the flour?
Good questions, Fred. For the basil, my first recommendation would be for a different fresh herb, rather than dried basil; parsley would be my first choice, though thyme, oregano or rosemary would also be great. If none of those are available to you fresh, then I would simply skip the herb, as dried basil will introduce savory, woodsy flavors here that you're already getting from the bay. For the parmesan, definitely chop or grate it as finely as you can: the finer it is, the better it will melt into the sauce. Finally, though you are right that presliced or pregrated cheeses usually contain stabilizers, I would keep the amount of flour called for the same, as the stabilizers in the cheese shouldn't be significant enough to change the consistency of your sauce. Good luck! -April D.
Here in Japan, there no such thing as Half and Half. We have regular milk and low fat milk. Cream comes in 2 forms: 35% and 47%. Can I use half milk and half cream to get the same result?
Is there a typo? 4 cups of half and half + butter and cheese made well over 3 cups of sauce, even after reduced.