I love having pasta for breakfast, lunch or dinner. From penne to fusilli and rigatoni, the variety of pastas available in the market is immense. While I would love a red sauce pasta any day, it is the white sauce that I crave every once in a while. Since it is so creamy, it tends to get a little overwhelming at times so I can’t have too much of it but enjoy digging in nonetheless. However, with a fair amount of pastas I’ve had at home and in restaurants, the one thing I’ve noticed is the difference in the sauce. Each place you go to offers a different kind of sauce, although it is a ‘white sauce pasta” on the menu. Sometimes it’s creamy, sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it’s thick, sometimes it’s just hard and sticky.
These variations in the textures of the pasta sauce can either make or break your mood. Often times, we tend to order white sauce pasta, without giving much thought to the fact that there are different kinds of white sauce too. There’s alfredo and then there’s béchamel sauce. These two are the ones which are usually used for making pasta. While the former uses cheese and heavy cream for thickening, the latter makes use of a butter roux for the same purpose.
Now if you’re planning to make white sauce pasta at home, here’s how to make a creamy béchamel sauce.
1. Flouring And Stirring Away
Whenever you are making a sauce, you need to ensure that it is smooth and flowy. For this, it is important that lumps are not formed in the sauce. Flour is added to the béchamel sauce to make it creamy and thick. This flour needs to be stirred continuously to avoid formation of lumps and to attain a pale golden colour. During this time, another thing that you need to ensure is to keep the flame low. On a high flame, chances are that the milk can get curdled and some ingredients might get burned even before they are combined well.
2. Milking The Right Way
For the milk, there are a few things to keep in mind. One is that cold milk should be used because hot or warm milk may simply form lumps in your roux mixture. Another important point is that the milk should be added slowly while stirring the roux. Pouring all or large amounts of it at once is going to lead to lumps which are undesirable. This will also help to balance the milk and flour ratio.
3. Buttering Away
Butter is another essential component of the sauce that cannot be burnt. A huge bar of butter directly on the pan is likely to get burnt from the bottom as the top melts slowly. It is better to cut it into smaller cubes and add it to the pan so that all of it melts properly.
4. Cooking Away
Now, to be sure that your béchamel sauce is ready and the texture is perfect, there is a quick trick that you can use. Dip your spoon into the sauce and if it sticks to the back of the spoon, Voila! You’ve achieved the perfect consistency for your pasta and it is ready to be dunked into the boiled penne.