Saturday, April 26, 2014

Beets with Béchamel sauce





This is a pretty easy dish you can make it ahead of time and put it in the oven at dinner time. 

2 tablespoons of butter melted

1 pound of beets sliced a quarter inch thick (partially cooked, either via baking or nuking). You can peel them if you prefer. 

1 1/4 cups of Béchamel sauce (recipe below) 

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease an ovenproof dish with butter. Arrange the beets in the prepared dish and drizzle with melted butter. Season with salt and spoon the béchamel sauce over the beets. 

Bake, covered, 25-30 minutes. Remove cover and bake another 5 minutes. 
Serve immediately. 







Béchamel sauce 

1/4 c butter
1/4 c flour
2-1/4 c milk
Pinch nutmeg
Salt and white pepper

Melt butter over medium heat. Remove from stove and whisk in flour to form a roux. 
Slowly stir in milk, combining until smooth. Stir in nutmeg and salt and pepper. 
Place back on heat and bring to a boil stirring constantly so as not to burn and to keep the flour incorporated. 
Lower heat to simmer and cover, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. 
The sauce should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. 

The sauce is used for gratins soufflés and stuffings and can be used to make pasta sauces or put over poached eggs. 
It's also great over fish and vegetables. It is the base sauce to my macaroni and cheese. Or you can also lick it off the spoon all day long it's delicious. 


Friday, April 25, 2014

Béchamel Sauce


béchamel sauce 


The sauce is used for gratins soufflés and stuffings and can be used to make pasta sauces or put over poached eggs. It's also great over fish and vegetables. It is the base sauce to my macaroni and cheese. Or you can also lick it off the spoon all day long it's delicious. 

1/4 c butter
1/4 c flour
2-1/4 c milk
Pinch nutmeg
Salt and white pepper

Melt butter over medium heat. Remove from stove and whisk in flour to form a roux. 
Slowly stir in milk, combining until smooth. Stir in nutmeg and salt and pepper. 
Place back on heat and bring to a boil stirring constantly so as not to burn and to keep the flour incorporated. 
Lower heat to simmer and cover, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. 
The sauce should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. 







Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Bologna Sushi (appetizer with pickles, cream cheese and bologna)





I've been making this for years with all kinda of lunchmeat but the term I give it is "bologna sushi."

Bologna is such a fun word. I love to randomly say "it smells like bologna (baloney) in here". 


Heres all ya do: 
Spread it with cream cheese, and roll it around a pickle and slice. It's that easy
It sits in the fridge well overnight. 

They make great appetizers. 

Drain and dry the pickles slightly for better adherence. 



Using a whole pickle...and a whole pickle cut in half. 

My teddy bear picnic lunch at work tomorrow. 
Grapes, banana, bologna sushi, club crackers, cheese cubes, buttered rye bread, Spicy slaw (Kim chi), milk and lemon water.