Make Food That Matters

Plus the White Sauce and its endless possibilities

I mentioned I finally got around to reading Lessons in Chemistry and loved it by the way. Have you read it? Are you as excited for the TV series to come out this week?

Anyways, there’s a few quotes from the book that have stuck with me, this one I can’t stop thinking about:

‘Make food that matters.’

It hits me hard because this is what’s so important to me. It’s what’s at the heart of any teaching I do. And it’s what cooking is all about.

To make food that matters.

I'm not talking about celebrity chef style, super fancy food.

I'm talking about the everyday food that adds to your life.

Food that nourishes you and your people.

Meals that are delicious and satisfying.

Food that feels good.

Because otherwise what are we even doing?

What if this was the focus? What if this is what matters most?

How would things be different?

And what if you created a cooking practice around this?

Not a performance. Not what we think we should be doing but instead thinking about what would feel good for me?

How can I make it easy?  How can I make it delicious? How can I trust my own instincts and intuition over everything else to get there?

That’s what matters most.

What’s Cooking This Week: Bechamel AKA The Magic White Sauce

A good sauce changes everything. When you have a few in your arsenal it’s easy to ‘make it delicious’ in so many ways. Bechamel, or what I like to call the Magical White Sauce is the perfect place to start. It’s a blank canvas ready for you to add your flavour signature. Traditionally this sauce is made with all whole milk but my way is a little different - I think you get more flavour with a mix of good stock and cream. If you want to go all milk, do it! Try it a few different ways and see what you like.

I’ll use this sauce for so many things; as a base for a creamy chowder, fettuccine Alfredo, in a lasagna (try a squash & mushroom I talked about earlier in the Cooking All The Squash episode), to gratin any kind of vegetable, for macaroni and cheese, for a creamy fish pie - the list goes on. You can play with how thick you like it depending on what you’re using it for, add cheese, roasted garlic or different spices to make it your own. Sometimes I’ll add a whole clove of garlic and remove it with the bay leaf for a nice mild flavour. You can see the possibilities are endless!

Bechamel Sauce AKA The Magic White Sauce

• 1/4 cup butter

• 1/4 cup flour

• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock, heated slightly

• 1/2 cup whipping cream

• 1/8 teaspon nutmeg

• 1 bay leaf

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan on med-low heat. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the paste cooks and bubbles a bit, but don't let it brown — about 3-5 minutes.

Add the broth slowly, continuing to stir. When the broth is incorporated, add the cream and turn the heat up to bring it to a simmer. Add nutmeg, bay leaf and salt to taste.

Lower the heat, and cook for about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally until the sauce is thickened.

Remove from the heat and discard the bay leaf. To cool the sauce for later use, cover it with wax paper or saran wrap to keep a skin from forming.

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