In the Food Moment

Easy, delicious cheese sauce

Posted by Heather Lackey | Filed under Enjoying Food, Preparing Food

(Tonight was supposed to be beef stew, finally, but it turns out that if you forget to start it enough days in a row, on top of delaying starting it because you didn’t yet have the pan you needed for it, the meat goes bad. I felt terrible throwing out all that beautiful meat. But we managed to have a fantastic dinner anyway.)

As part of my ongoing effort (that’s about reached its fruitless end) to find a cooked cauliflower Mark enjoys, tonight I served it with cheese sauce. Until last year, I thought that to make cheese sauce you had to start with a roux. On top of that, it took me quite a while to figure out how to make a good cheese sauce from a roux, because it turns out that if you don’t cook the sauce long enough (before you add the cheese), it ends up grainy. It took me a while to figure out how long was “long enough.” And now it turns out I went through all that frustration for nothing!

With this delicious cheese sauce, there’s no flour, so no risk of graininess. It’s much quicker to make than “traditional” cheese sauce. And, because this recipe uses cream instead of milk, you don’t have to be so concerned about it scorching.

Cheese sauce
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 cup shredded cheese
A bit of salt (less or none if you’re using salted butter)

Heat the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat until it begins to brown. Stir in the cream and continue stirring. It won’t be long before it starts to bubble. Continuing stirring for another two minutes, letting it cook down a bit. Stir in the cheese, then immediately remove it from the heat. Add salt to taste, and you’re done!

If the sauce isn’t as thick as you’d like, you can add more cheese till you reach your desired consistency.

I used cheddar in tonight’s sauce, but I’ve also used parmesan or a mix of parmesan and asiago for amazing alfredo sauce, which I absolutely love spooned over roasted chicken.

For the cauliflower tonight, I simply tossed it in a baking dish with some salt and a high-heat oil (ghee, since I’d just made some) and and baked it at 450˚F for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. It came out perfect. I wish Mark got as much enjoyment out of cauliflower as I do. I find it so delicious!