Kent, when you say, 2/3 oil to 1 part flour. Do you mean 2/3 cup of oil and
1/3 cup of flour and how much milk for those amounts?
Thanks
Dee Dee


"Kent" > wrote in message
. ..
> Try making your roux in the microwave using olive oil and flour, in about
> a 2/3 oil to 1 part flour. Microwave this on a 3 or so setting. Any oil
> picks up MW radiation far more than other ingredients.
> Then add heated milk and whisk. Heat more and whisk. Then heat a bit more
> and whisk.
> There you have it, your bechamel.
> Recently doing this I made the best crab newberg I've ever had, and
> nothing made it to the stove top. I couldn't believe it. We get live
> Dungeness Crab here, steam it, eat what you can, then make crab stock, and
> make crab newberg from the leftover, if you can imagine there being any.
> Kent
>
> "Dee Randall" > wrote in message
> ...
>> I've never made a bechamel that I would consider exceptional or even
>> acceptable (for me). Today I tried a different tactic.
>>
>> I was going to have a different meal altogether but when I looked in the
>> frig there was 3 cups of cream and some brown crimini mushrooms. The
>> cream was 8 days out of date, but still acceptable, and the mushrooms
>> might have been if-y when I bought them (in a cellophane pack).
>>
>> I cleaned up the mushrooms to where they didn't smell too amoniac and
>> fried them. While they were frying I got out and compared Giada's and
>> Mario's bechamel sauce and found that Mario's recipe fit my 3 cups of
>> cream (without calculating the difference of Giada's 4 cups' recipe).
>> Both called for milk - not cream. I didn't care because I've never made
>> a fit bechamel so far -- always lumpy and spending more time with lumps
>> than the cooking!
>>
>> I heated the cream in the microwave slowly to about 160º while I heated
>> the 5 T butter (both recipes called for the same amount of butter) and
>> then sprinkled 1/3 cup flour into it. Giada' recipe said to cook 2
>> minutes, Mario's said to cook 6-7 minutes. I cooked until starting to
>> turn a little brownish, as Mario said, maybe about 4 minutes. DH poured
>> the hot cream into the butter/flour mixture 1 cup at a time while I
>> whisked. It was very thick; I would assume mainly due to cream instead
>> of milk. I added 1/2 the amount of salt and nutmeg called for, and it
>> still was pretty pungent with salt & nutmeg. NO LUMPS!
>>
>> Then I added the finished mushrooms and the spaghetti to the big pan of
>> bechamel and used tongs to separate them as they cooked. This really
>> tasted like carbonara.
>>
>> I saved the rest of the bechamel (in the freezer) for another day.
>> Necessity was the mother of invention as I rescued the mushrooms and the
>> rest of the cream that I had bought to make chocolate truffles.
>>
>> Served with 'organic' fresh carrots, salt & pepper; butter lettuce with
>> oil and vinegar and a glass of wine, French for DH; Italian for me.
>>
>> It's now snack time and a movie -- thanks TJ's for salza and chips - as
>> they say, "Good to go."
>> Dee Dee
>>
>>
>>
>>
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