This post is dedicated to my sister, Anu. During the good old days when we used to stay together at home, every once in a while she would get into a good mood and decide to cook this dish for me – Macaroni in white sauce. Today I had a sudden craving to replicate my sister’s delicious recipe. I called her up and even though she was at work, she quickly gave me the recipe on the phone. She’d also given me some expert tips which I have included under the “Anu Says” section. Hope you enjoy it.

Before we get started, a little bit about the Béchamel sauce itself from our dear friends at Wikipedia.

Béchamel sauce , also known as white sauce (sauce blanche), is one of the mother sauces of French cuisine and is used in many recipes of the Italian cuisine. According to Larousse Gastronomique, the sauce is named after the Marquis de Béchamel, Béchameil was a financier who held the honorary post of chief steward to Louis XIV.

Before we get started, the preparation will be in five simple stages. Milk, Béchamel, Pasta, Vegetables,  Mixing. Onto to the show.

What you will need

(serves 2 and then some)

For the Béchamel-

40 g unsalted butter

40 g plain flour (maida)

400 ml milk

Anu Says: An easy way to remember the proportion to make the Béchamel sauce is that its one part butter to one part flour to 10 parts of milk.

1 bayleaf

1 slice of onion

3-4 stalks of parsley

8 corns of black pepper, ground to coarse powder

For the vegetables

Onions, peas, sweet corn, carrot, broccoli (choose any 4 ) cut into small cubes.

For the macaroni

200 g macaroni

2 tbsp oil

salt

Let’s Do This

Step 1 :- Getting the milk ready

Pour the milk into a small saucepan. Add one bayleaf, the parsley leaves and the onion. Keep the milk on simmer and wait for about 5-6 minutes.

When the milk comes to boil, turn off the gas. Pour the milk through a strainer to remove the flavorings and keep the infused milk aside.

Step 2 – Macaroni

Bring a large bowl of water to boil. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil (or any oil). This is just to keep the pasta from sticking to each other. Add about 2 tablespoons of salt and mix well. Make sure you add the macaroni when the water is boiling.

Stir contantly making sure to use a wooden spoon so as not to damage the macaroni. Keep the macaroni boiling till it gets cooked just right

Anu says: Al dente is cooking the macaroni  firm but not hard, good enough to bite and not too gooey. The pasta should be cooked through, but when you put it in your mouth it will give some resistance to bite.

Drain out the water and keep the macaroni aside.

Step 3 – The vegetables

You’ll need to boil the vegetables for about 10 minutes in water. Bring water to boil in a pan and add your choice of vegetables. I chose sweet corn, green peas, carrots. The main reason for this choice was a) I loved the colors – yellow, green and orange b) My local supermarket had run out of broccoli :)

When the vegetables are cooked well, remove them from water and keep them in small cup. Chop the onions fine. Heat some butter in a pan and saute the onions well till they become translucent. Put them in a small cup as well.

Step 4:-  Making the Béchamel

Clean out the saucepan you used above. After wiping it dry, put in the butter. Heat it on a low flame. The idea is to just melt the butter, and not to burn/brown it. This could affect the color of the sauce later on.

Just when the butter melts, throw in the flour and stir quickly. In a few seconds, it will become a nice golden-yellow paste.

Right, now its time to bring the infused milk. Add the milk 25ml at a time. Every time you add the milk, make sure to stir quickly and vigorously till the milk gets absorbed into the mixture. When it does, add another 25 ml. Keep doing this till about half the milk has gone in. After that add the balance milk at one go. The mixture will tend to lump immediately.

No worries, just keep whisking briskly for about 5 minutes and soon the mixture will be free of lumps and you’ll have a smooth a lovely looking paste.

Keep it on the sim flame for another 5 minutes.

Add some salt to taste, and add black pepper powder. Say hello to your very own Béchamel sauce.

Anu says: If you’re not planning to make the dish right away, don’t do the next step now. Melt some butter and pour it over the sauce. It will protect the sauce. When you want to cook, just heat it up and mix it nicely.

Step 5:- Putting it together

Mix the vegetables into the sauce. Make sure you keep some vegetables for the plating. Put the macaroni in next, stirring gently so as not to break the it. Make sure the sauce gets nicely distributed.

Step 6:- Plating

Put the macaroni in white sauce in a bowl. Sprinkle some of the left-over vegetables that you had kept aside. Put a slice of cheese on top and melt in the microwave. Garnish with some parsley and you’re ready to serve.

Whenever Anu used to make this dish for me,  I remember I used to feel so happy. I made this dish for D today and saw the smile that I remembered this dish used to bring to my face. Thanks Sis!

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