Béchamel Sauce with Variations - The sauce everyone should know how to make

In Cooking 101, there are some basics that you will want to know how to prepare. The classic béchamel sauce is one of them. Once you understand the elements of preparation it is easy to expand your horizons with the variations I suggest with fun names such as Mornay or Velouté.

First, You Make a Roux

The key to these sauces, with the exception of the cashew béchamel, is making the roux. After melting your butter, add a flour from the choices below and whisk for 1-2 minutes to make the roux, before slowly adding the milk or else the béchamel will taste like flour. You may cook, stirring the roux even longer if you are using it for a Creole dish and want a darker color and more intense flavor.

I have used unbleached flour, whole-wheat pastry flour, whole-wheat flour, garbanzo flour and spelt flour. If you are gluten intolerant, garbanzo flour is a good choice. You may use butter, ghee, olive oil or even coconut oil as your fat choice.

Use these sauces to make pasta primavera. Simply cook some pasta and steam or sauté fresh, seasonal vegetables and add whatever version you’d like; perhaps the herb or Mornay version. Try the mustard version on a chicken dish. Remember, that your food need not be dripping with sauce. Enjoy the possibilities!

Béchamel Sauce
Serves 4

2 tablespoons unsalted butter or olive oil
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup warmed milk
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 pinch nutmeg, freshly ground, optional

Heat the butter or oil in small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour, mixing thoroughly as you go. Cook and stir for 1-2 minutes.

Slowly whisk in a small amount of milk to form a smooth paste. Continue until all the milk has been whisked in and the sauce is thick. Add sea salt & nutmeg to taste.

Per Serving: 103 Calories; 8g Fat (67.9% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 6g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 24mg Cholesterol; 148mg Sodium.

Variations:

Mornay Sauce
Add 1/2 cup grated cheese to 1 cup of hot sauce; stir over low heat until cheese is melted. Season with a little mustard or Worcestershire sauce to taste.
Velouté Sauce
Substitute chicken, beef, fish, or vegetable broth for the milk.

Herb Sauce
Add 1 teaspoon of freshly chopped herbs or 1/2 teaspoon dried herbs to 1 cup of hot sauce. Cook for a minute or two longer to get more flavor from the herbs.

Cream Sauce
Add 2 or 3 tablespoons of heavy cream to the finished sauce. For an onion flavor, add an onion slice to the milk when heating; remove onion slice before adding milk to flour and butter mixture.

Mustard Sauce
Combine 1 teaspoon dry mustard to flour used in sauce. This sauce is especially good with fish and chicken.

Alternative Ingredients:
Here are a few substitutions you can make to accommodate lactose intolerance or gluten or wheat sensitivities. Use olive oil instead of butter, garbanzo flour instead of wheat flour and almond or soy milk instead of cows' milk.

Cashew Béchamel
The classic sauce, with a twist.

1/4 cup whole, raw cashews
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup vegetable or chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup fresh parsley, de-stemmed, minced
1 pinch cayenne

Using a blender, blend until creamy: cashews, flour, stock, salt & cayenne.

Put mixture into small, heavy bottomed saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly.

Add parsley and mix well.

Per Serving: 89 Calories; 5g Fat (47.8% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 9g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 1mg Cholesterol; 528mg Sodium.

Look to Your Ancestral Roots to Discover Your Healthiest Cuisine

The cuisine of our ancestors can give us insights to our healthier self since the gene pool changes very slowly from one generation to the next. As an example, most people of European descent have a lower incidence of alcoholism when compared to Aboriginal Australians, Native Americans, and some East Asian groups. This hasn’t changed much over the centuries and if you are East Asian, for example, you most likely will note that you are sensitive to the effects of alcoholic beverages, as were your ancestors. In other cultures, lactose intolerance is a predominant dietary feature and the list goes on and on.

Curious to learn "What is my optimum diet?", I took a journey to Wales in April to connect with my Celtic roots and understand my heritage on many levels.

Landing in Cardiff

... the capital city of Wales we were surrounded by fields of green dotted with sheep; 5.2 million sheep in Wales as a matter of fact, all held in with fences of hedges. It was quite an experience driving on the wrong side of the road, the wrong side of the car and shifting with your left hand! Luckily, we only went the wrong way a couple times and we learned that the Welsh people were patient and forgiving. By the way, I suggest that when asked if you want a navigation system in your rental car, you say no thank you. Had we had such a system, we would have not had 'off-the-beaten-path' opportunities to see England!

Hay on Wye

... 2 hours from Cardiff, is a little village of about 1,400 people with 40+ bookstores; the most literary village in the world they say. I was completely in my element. That first morning after the customary stewed prunes and grapefruit (which my all-Welsh Dad loved!) breakfast was bacon ‘rashers’, which is really more like what we would think of as Canadian bacon, 1 free-range egg, a grilled tomato, mushrooms, baked beans, whole-grain toast and black pudding. This sounds like a lot, but the portions were small. The black pudding was a stretch for us, but we tried it. I’ll say this quickly…pig’s blood is what makes it black! Two bites each. Though coffee is available, tea is the drink of choice.

Artisan cheeses and freshly baked breads

... are featured in Welsh cuisine and are served with yet more fresh vegetables, making lunch a simple and healthy affair. Another dish that you see everywhere are pastys (sometimes spelled pasties), which are generally made from beef, potatoes and onions wrapped in pie dough, steak and kidney pie being the most common. People eat them like sandwiches. Lore is that miners would keep various pastys close to their bodies to help keep their bodies and the pasties warm.

I eat plenty of vegetables

...and was not deprived at all in Wales. We asked the owner of a pub, where a big dog stretched across the wooden plank floor, to recommend a good local ale and she replied that the best choice was her son’s that he ‘brewed out back’ once a month. She prepared a wonderful meal of fresh fish with a little Welsh rarebit on top (a cheese sauce that I remember my Dad making) served with a nice variety of perfectly al dente vegetables. When many think of English food, visions of overcooked vegetables in scant supply, boiled potatoes and mutton come to mind. You can find potatoes cooked in many ways, that’s true, but we weren’t served mushy vegetables, unless, of course, you order ‘mash’ which are supposed to be, well ... mashed and are different from mushy. You can also find Mutton, but spring lamb is more common.

While driving through the country

...on Sunday looking at signs that read “Free-Range Eggs’ and ‘Free-Range Children’ (yes, really!) you can find farms with hand painted signs saying ‘Sunday Roast.’ As you can imagine, there is an easy way about these people and a real sense of caring for each other. Laughter comes easy and Welsh folk songs are heard, for you know that Wales is The Land of Song, after all.

Laver bread is a Wales specialty

...made from seaweed (laver is actually a type of seaweed) and oats and doesn’t really have the consistency of bread at all. Seaweed is an extremely healthy food, packed with minerals and iodine, something more of us should eat regularly. To make laver bread, the seaweed is boiled for several hours and then minced or pureed. The paste that results is then sold as it is, or rolled in oatmeal, generally 4 parts laver to 1 part oats.
To cook, it is fried in bacon grease.

The first thing I did when I returned home

... was to make my own version of Laver bread. I apologize profusely to the Welsh people as a whole for my non-traditional recipe for laver bread. Since I don’t have laver, I used what I happened to have at home, which was Nori, the kind of seaweed you use to make sushi.

I cut up 3 sheets, put them in the food processor and pulsed until smooth. I set that aside. Next I took a handful of oats, about 10 walnuts, 1 tablespoon of flax seeds and pulsed that in the food processor as well. Between the seaweed and the oat mixture I had almost a cup of pulsed dry meal. Next I added water to this mixture, probably about 1/3 cup or so. I mixed it well and let it sit for about 30 minutes before forming it into patties and sautéing them in a bit of olive oil. It made 3 patties. I served them for breakfast with poached eggs, and sautéed onions, garlic and greens. Again, I was inspired from the laver bread and concocted a dish perhaps more in line with the average person’s palette. You could add onions and garlic to the mixture if you like.
If you want to see a photo of my laver bread concoction, please check my Website or Facebook.

In Wales, desserts at this time of year are mostly made from rhubarb or perhaps a cheese plate with strawberries. Cheesecake was on almost every menu as was a wonderful Ginger-Rhubarb Crème Brule, that I am determined to duplicate. It was delicious!

My conclusion about my 'roots diet'
compared to the one I have intuitively chosen based on my tastes and value for good health is that I am mostly on target with my love of fresh vegetables. I have chosen to minimize carbohydrates and meats in my diet, which gives me plenty of opportunity to expand and explore within what I know to be my optimum diet for well-being.

Boost Your Brain Power

Most of us take our brain for granted until we begin to forget things too often or experience brain fog. Of course, if someone we know suffers from Alzheimer’s, we may become more curious about brain health. Baby boomers, now in their 50’s and 60’s, are particularly interested in brain health. Many have witnessed the devastating progression of dementia in an aging parent or relative and wonder, "How can I avoid Alzheimer's as I age?"

Here are four proven practices to enhance or even prolong the optimum functioning of your brain.

Use it or Lose it!

According to neuroscientist Dr. Michael Merzenich of The University of California at San Francisco:

“The brain of the average mature adult actually shrinks, as the brain machinery supporting hearing, seeing, feeling, thinking, emotion and movement control degrades over time. These changes occur to a large extent because mature individuals are less likely to use their brains in the specific ways that are required to sustain our cognitive abilities.”

Challenge yourself to improve your cognitive ability. Learn something new - languages or dance steps are great - and then expand your level of learning, perhaps continuing study from basic to the next level. When you learn something rewarding that activity expands brain changes, improving learning and memory.

Concentrate on fine details regarding ordinary things. Note the fine distinctions; how does something taste, exactly? Can you hear the birds singing in your yard or wherever you are? These everyday details, when paid attention to, drive the brain to change its abilities on different levels.

The National Geographic web site has some fascinating videos regarding brain health and features a study of London’s taxi drivers and how their brains change, for the better, over time, because of the constant workout their brains receive from memorizing streets and places. It’s fascinating.

Food for thought

A brain healthy diet also reduces your risk of heart disease and diabetes and includes the following healthy foods:

• Omega 3 fatty acids-such found in raw walnuts, cold-water fish such as halibut, trout, tuna and salmon.

• High antioxidants foods including the vegetables kale, spinach, Brussels sprouts, alfalfa sprouts, broccoli, beets, red bell pepper, onion, corn and eggplant and the fruits prunes, raisins, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, plums, oranges, red grapes and cherries. Walnuts, almonds and pecans also contain vitamin E, a powerful antioxidant. Consume 10-15 per day of these raw nuts and 5-9 cups of vegetables, mostly non-starchy, some raw, in all colors!

Body weight is an important factor for brain health. A one study of people who were obese in middle age were twice as likely to develop dementia in later life. Reduce your intake of foods high in fat and cholesterol. People with high cholesterol and high blood pressure had a six times greater risk of dementia. However, HDL, the “good” cholesterol, may help protect brain cells and a rich sources is foods high in Omega-3’s. Use mono- and polyunsaturated fats, such as olive oil, for baking or grilling food instead of frying and use flax oil on your salads.

A supplement program specific to your needs could be part of a healthy diet to insure brain health. Some supplements such as fish oil, vitamin E, or vitamins E and C together, vitamin B12 and folate may lower your risk of developing Alzheimer’s.

Your brain is about 80 percent water therefore adequate water to hydrate your brain is essential. Dehydration can raise stress hormones, which can damage your brain over time. Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day and avoid or limit liquids with artificial sweeteners, sugar, caffeine, or alcohol. Green tea, though caffeinated, is high in antioxidants and herbal teas are good choices to replace caffeinated beverages.

For some recipes that encourage your brain to be all it can be, visit PattyJames.com

Physical Fitness = Mental Fitness

According to Dr. Daniel G. Amen, of Amen Brain Health Clinics, exercise is “the fountain of youth for your brain. It boosts blood flow to the brain, stimulating the growth of new brain cells and increases chemicals that are important for learning and memory. A brisk 30 minute walk 3 or 4 times a week is all you need. If you don’t know what to do, walk fast, like you’re late.” Remember too, that weight bearing exercise is essential to healthy bones.

Stress Reduction

Chronic stress elevates levels of cortisol and can damage the memory center of your brain. Long-term brain health is supported when you include some of the following practices in your lifestyle:

• Deep breathing
• Meditation
• Massage
• Prayer
• Hypnosis
• Guided imagery or to put it another way visualizing yourself on a beach somewhere

Parting thought: "If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worried about one year ago today."

Happy Spring!

Patty