Cream Sauce

So, I had some cream left over after making saag. A great way using up extra cream is to make a cream sauce for pasta. It only takes a few ingredients: butter, flour, cream, cheese, and any spices or other flavors that catch your fancy. For this sauce, I used aged Canadian cheddar (I know what some of you are thinking, but trust me, it's really good) and fresh minced garlic.

NOTE: If you used Parmesan cheese, you would make alfredo sauce.

The first step in making any cream-based sauce is to prepare a roux (roo). You take equal amounts of butter and flour and combine them in the saucepan. Let the butter melt, mix them together, and let them cook until bubbly.

At this point I added the garlic and let it cook for about 1 minute so as not to burn the roux. Then comes the cream. Add it slowly and stir constantly so it doesn't scorch. Burnt cream is not so yummy.

Once the cream has warmed through, add the cheese by small handfulls while stirring constantly.

From here it's pretty simple: just keep adding cheese until the sauce is to your prefered thickness and cheesiness.



Less like this . . .                                 And more like this.



Once you've reached your desired levels of thickness and cheesiness, pour the sauce generously over the pasta of your choice and enjoy!



Dinner!!!



And not to brag too much, but when I offered some of this lovely dish to my roommate, she said (with zero enthusiasm), "I don't like white sauce, but I'll try it." She took a bite, cracked a smile, took another bite and giggled with glee. "You can make this anytime!" It's just that good, folks - fear not!