An Excuse To Make Béchamel

It hasn't been that long since I started immersing myself in homecooking. Case in point, there are many basic dishes in a homecook's repertoire that I have yet to attempt. Basic dishes such as lasagna, moussaka, and macaroni & cheese immediately sprung to mind. What do they have in common? All three dishes use béchamel as a fundamental building block.

Being brought up on traditional Cantonese cooking, I reach for corn starch slurry by reflex at the slightest hint of a sauce that seems a bit too thin. Cooking butter with flour to make a roux and then thin it with liquid? [shudder] That sounds like a lumpy mess waiting to happen. However, learning is as much about conquering fears as mastering techniques. I strive to be a confident homecook and that means trying unfamiliar techniques.

Béchamel is not at all expensive to make. It is simply butter, flour, and milk after all. To put that sauce to use, I was not yet ready to commit to expensive ingredients and plenty of time to make lasagna nor moussaka. Mac & Cheese, on the other hand, seems like the perfect vehicle. I adapted from The Pioneer Woman's recipe and added sage, thyme, garlic, onion, and kale for some depth of flavour. If you look closely at the photo, you will notice that the pasta is in fact not macaroni, but gemelli. I'm partial to the skinny twisty shape because I think they pick up the rich cheesy sauce rather well. The star of the show? Sharp aged white cheddar of course! I used a locally made 7 year old white cheddar by Mapledale.

Macaroni & Cheese With Kale

adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks
serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 cups dried pasta such as gemelli
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
• 1 tsp finely chopped sage leaves
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1 tsp dry mustard
• 1/2 tsp sweet paprika
• 1 egg
• 8oz aged cheddar cheese, grated and reserve 1/4 cup for topping
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 2 cups torn kale pieces (I used both green and purple)

Method

1. Bring a medium pot of water to boil. You can cook the pasta according to package direction which I never do. Instead, I put salt and dried pasta to the pot of boiling water, bring it back to a boil, turn off the heat, and put the lid on the pot. The residual heat is enough to gently cook the pasta to desired consistency. I prefer the pasta a little firmer for this dish since we'll bake it later. Mine was done in close to 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 3-cup baking dish and set it on a baking sheet.
3. In a small saucepan, heat 1 tsp olive oil over high heat. Saute onion, garlic, thyme, and sage until softened and fragrant. Empty the vegetable to a large mixing bowl and set aside.
4. Using the same saucepan, whisk together butter and flour briskly over medium high heat until the paste is golden and clears the bottom of the pan. Pour in milk, mustard, paprika and keep stirring over medium heat until it thickens to consistency of cream soup. Voila Béchamel!
5. In the mean time, crack the egg into a heavy bowl. Temper the egg with a ladle of béchamel before adding it to the saucepan. Turn the heat down to low and add in grated cheese by the handful. Stir the sauce to ensure cheese is melted before adding more. Season with salt and lots of black pepper.
6. In the large mixing bowl with the onion mixture, toss together cheese sauce, pasta, and kale until everything is evenly coated. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Fill the prepared baking dish with the pasta and sprinkle reserved grated cheese over the top.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes until bubbly. If the top is not brown at this point, switch to broiler setting and blast just long enough for the top of the casserole to be golden. Do not take your eyes away from the oven while broiling! Serve immediately.