Pasta in white sauce

It takes just a few ingredients and fifteen minutes to make a deliciously creamy yet a low calorie white sauce. Serve the sauce over your favourite pasta or some baked vegetables to make it a perfect comfort food!

The French term for this medium-thick white sauce is béchamel. Making a white sauce is very easy but the foolproof way to attain a perfectly smooth sauce is to have the milk hot when added to the butter and flour.

What you need :

For the white sauce (béchamel sauce)

3 tbsp butter 1 heaped tbsp all purpose flour 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese (do not use pizza cheese) Salt & pepper as per taste 1 cup milk (should be hot)

For the pasta

1 tbsp very finely chopped onion 2 tablespoon olive oil 1 tablespoon butter Pinch of nutmeg 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme 1 pound pappardelle or fettuccine (or any other pasta) 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan Pine nuts for garnishing 1 cup thinly sliced mushrooms 4-5 olives cut into rounds

How to :

Making the white (béchamel) sauce

In a non-stick saucepan melt the butter on medium heat. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the paste cooks and bubbles a bit, but don't let it brown — about 2 minutes. Pour in half of the hot milk, half of the grated cheese and stir until the mixture thickens. Add the remaining milk and the rest of the cheese and stir over medium heat until it thickens slightly and bubbly. Do not let the mixture over thicken as it will not coat the pasta properly. Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper as needed.

For the pasta

Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water with 2-3 drops of olive oil, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Drain pasta and reserve a cup of pasta cooking water.

Heat oil and butter in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Add chopped onion and cook until translucent. Add the mushrooms and sauté for 2 minutes. Add thyme, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg (a few chili flakes if you like) along with white sauce. Cook for a minute and add the cooked pasta. Let the sauce evenly coat the pasta. If it’s a bit thick, add a few spoonfuls of the cooking water to loosen it up. Add more cooking liquid if needed, until the sauce coats pasta.

Sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, pine nuts and some olives and serve immediately

PS : You could also use the same white sauce to make a baked vegetable augratin or simply pour the sauce over grilled vegetables along with some salad as I did :)