What sauce do you often serve with your favorite noodles? Chilli sauce or creamcheese sauce? Both yum and gorgeous, right? However, you now should try a delicious sauce that can be used on whatever noodles/pasta you have on hand for a quick meal. Even more spread it over your baked salmon. Yep, it is Creamy Basil Sauce for all. The French refer to this group as a flour thickened sauce.
Ingredients
2 teaspoons Fresh Basil,
Note: Triple this amount if you are using dried basil. That is a good rule of thumb
2 quarts Milk
Note: Any type of milk will work but whole milk is richer. I use 2% milk which seems to suite my taste buds.
4 ounces All purpose flour, ( measured by weight, not volume )
4 ounces Butter ( measured by weight, not volume )
Salt Season to taste, use kosher salt to avoid the iodine in regular table salt
Pepper Season with black or white pepper to taste
Directions
Wash your basil and chop them into small pieces, only use the leaves in the sauce.
1. Heat the butter in a heavy saucepot over low heat. When the butter is melted, add the flour and whisk until the mixture forms a paste. Add the small portion of the cold milk and whisk it real good until the mixture is smooth and without lumps.
2. Take off the fire and cool mix slightly.
3. Return the mixture to low heat. Add the remaining milk a small portion at a time, while whisking it with gusto. Keep doing that until the mixture is completely incorporated.
4. Simmer until any raw flour taste is gone. (You have to go by taste in this step.)
5. Strain mixture through a food mill or fine mesh strainer.
6. Return to heat, add chopped basil and simmer.
7. Add salt and pepper to taste
