Béchamel for lasagna - general principles of preparation
White sauce with the mysterious and intriguing name Bechamel is familiar to almost all hostesses. Cooks use it to bake various dishes and even serve them to the main meat and fish dishes. The classical basis perfectly copes with its function, improving the appearance, increasing the juiciness and aroma of the prepared dish.
The basic recipe of the sauce is quite simple to prepare; it is enough to fry the flour in butter and add milk, salt and season with spicy nutmeg. Then, based on the classic combination of ingredients, several variations of the sauce can be made.
- Morne sauce - the basic basis of Bechamel sauce with the addition of grated cheese - is usually used Parmesan or Gruyere. If the sauce is served with seafood, then it also includes fish broth.
- Sauce Nantua - it adds cream and crab meat, which emphasizes the taste.
- Sauce Subiz - onion puree is a basic base, and the use of this sauce is much broader than the first two. Use for giving to dishes from vegetables, a bird, meat.
Bechamel is considered the most popular sauce in Europe, and consists of only three ingredients, not counting salt and nutmeg. But it is enough to replace milk with cream and add other spices, for example, red pepper, and the sauce will play a new taste. With each new ingredient, the taste of the sauce is revealed and enriched.
Bechamel sauce for lasagna can be different in consistency - liquid as a gravy or thick, if used for filling the first courses and baking the second. The French call the flour mixture the term “Roux”.
To prepare the sauce, you first need to fry a little flour, and when it gets a golden hue and a characteristic nutty flavor, pour the mixture with milk and bring the sauce to the desired consistency.
It would seem that everything is simple, but this is far from the case, and the Bechamel sauce has its own secrets and subtleties in cooking. It is very important not only the correct thickness of the sauce, the freshness of the ingredients used, but also the dishes for preparing the sauce.
Bechamel for lasagna - preparation of products and dishes
Today, housewives have good non-stick cookware. However, in restaurants, metal dishes made of stainless steel and other alloys are used. This is done in order not to waste time and not worry about ceramic or Teflon non-stick coating.
Therefore, for the preparation of sauces, which must be constantly stirring, you will need a special inventory. Of course, you can use what you have at hand, but then the process will stretch, and the preparation of Bechamel sauce will not take so much pleasure.
- The first thing to take care of is a special whisk, not metal, but plastic, preferably with a silicone coating so as not to scratch the dishes.
- It will be necessary just in case a sieve with a silicone spatula so that in the case of lumps the sauce can be drained.
- To prepare the sauce, it is best to get a small saucepan, wide and with high sides, preferably with a thick bottom, so that the temperature is evenly distributed.
All this is necessary for the proper preparation of the classic basis of Bechamel sauce.
As for the products, it is worth noting that nutmeg is best used freshly ground. You can buy a ready-made grinder with whole fruits, or just nuts that rub well on a fine grater. Packaged crushed product does not have such a strong taste and aroma.
Cream or milk for sauce used normal fat, well, the flour should be fresh, sifted, first or highest grade.
Recipes for Béchamel Lasagna
The bechamel sauce for lasagna is used in the preparation of the dish in order to “tie” all its layers together. Adding spices and seasonings, vegetables, herbs will help to diversify the traditional sauce.
Recipe 1: Classic Béchamel Sauce for Lasagna
This variant of cooking the sauce is considered to be the basic basis, and later adding other ingredients to it, the chef seeks a different taste.
Ingredients Required:
- Wheat flour of the highest grade - 100 gr.
- Milk is fresher 3.2% fat - 450 ml.
- Butter - 85 gr.
- Salt - to taste
- Nutmeg - Whisper
Preparation Method:
- The sauce can be prepared in two ways: first fry the flour and then add the melted butter, or vice versa, add flour to the butter. It all depends on taste preferences, but it is worth noting that if you fry the flour in a dry frying pan, the Béchamel sauce will turn out darker, as the flour is fried until golden brown.
- After the flour is soaked with oil, milk is poured into a saucepan with a thin stream, and the sauce itself must be continuously stirred. At this stage, the saucepan can be removed briefly from the fire, so that the lumps of flour are more thoroughly dissolved, and the sauce becomes homogeneous.
- Cooked sauce after boiling milk for about two or three minutes, with the addition of salt and ground nutmeg.
- If there are still lumps of flour in the sauce, a fine sieve and silicone spatula come to the rescue, with their help you can get a homogeneous mass.
Recipe 2: Bechamel Sauce for Lasagna in Olive Oil
Butter is rather high-calorie, because of this, the nutritional value of the cooked dish also increases. However, the sauce can be made easier by replacing the oil base with olive oil.
This option of preparing the sauce will appeal to many, and it is much easier to prepare than the classic sauce.
Ingredients Required:
- Olive oil or vegetable oil - 120 ml.
- Shallots - 1 pc.
- Flour - 3 tbsp. spoons
- Fresh milk - 400 ml.
- Salt, spices (allspice and black pepper, nutmeg, bay leaf)
Preparation Method:
- Shallots need to be very finely ground.
- Fry the onion in a small amount of olive oil.
- Add flour to the onions, warm the mixture until golden.
- Add a trickle of remaining oil, mix well.
- Once the flour has absorbed all the oil, remove the griddle from the heat and pour in the milk.
- Salt sauce, season with spices and reduce to the desired consistency.
Recipe 3: Béchamel Sauce for Lasagna (“White”)
You can reduce the calorie content of the sauce by replacing the milk with vegetable broth. To add extra flavor, you can add rich chicken broth. This sauce has an additional prefix in the name “white”, it contains less flour, and chicken yolk is used for thickening. This bechamel sauce for lasagna is very popular with lovers of Italian dishes.
Ingredients Required:
- Top-grade flour - 1 tbsp. spoon
- Chicken yolk - 2 pcs.
- Capers - 10 pcs.
- Butter - 50 gr.
- Strong broth - 280 ml.
- Some salt and freshly ground pepper
Preparation Method:
- Fry the oil-flour mixture in a saucepan.
- Pour broth into it, add salt and season with spices to taste, and reduce until thick.
- At the very end, add the yolks to the sauce and warm for two minutes over low heat.
- Shredded capers will add spice to this sauce, and the sauce itself is perfect for cooking vegetable lasagna.
- Ground nutmeg, milk or cream is not added to the white sauce, and capers can be replaced with spicy pickled cucumbers.
Recipe 4: Bechamel Sauce for French “Lasagna”
You can diversify the taste of a dish, for example, using Bechamel sauce for lasagne in the French manner, with the addition of dry or fresh mushrooms. Use the best dry porcini mushrooms, with a small addition of beautiful mushroom slices.
Ingredients Required:
- Classical base of Bechamel sauce - 200 ml.
- Dry white mushrooms - a big handful
- Leek - 1 pc.
- Fresh champignons - 100 gr.
- Butter - 50 gr.
Preparation Method:
- Prepare the base of the sauce.
- Dry white mushrooms chop or pour them with hot water and then chop them.
- Grind the leek very finely.
- Stew chopped onion in a saucepan. Add to the onions dry chips of mushrooms.
- There should be a lot of oil, the mushrooms will be perfectly saturated with it and will become soft.
- Cut the champignons into large, beautiful slices and add them to the pan.
- Once all the ingredients in the pan are fried and become golden in color, you can add a base of Bechamel sauce and warm it.
Recipe 5: Béhamel Sauce for Sour Cream Lasagne
When poultry is used as a meat filling, it is recommended to prepare a Béchamel sauce for lasagne with the addition of sour cream. Also, the sauce is perfect for beautiful serving of any vegetable dishes.
Ingredients Required:
- Wheat flour - 80 gr.
- Sour cream - 5 tbsp. spoons
- Vegetable broth - 1 cup
- Oil - 50 g.
- Salt, spices
Preparation Method:
- Fry the flour and butter, add vegetable broth and mix the mass well so that there are no lumps left.
- Add sour cream, salt, spices to the skillet and then sause the sauce over the fire to the desired consistency.
- In the sauce, fried onions, mushrooms or fresh green dill is allowed.
Bechamel Sauce for Lasagna - secrets and tips from the best chefs
Classic bechamel sauce for lasagna is perfectly stored in the refrigerator for two days. In order not to appear on the surface of the crust, and the sauce is not weathered, it is recommended to pour it with melted butter on top.
If there is not enough flour in the preparation of the sauce and it is liquid, then there is no need to add more flour to it. It is better to be patient and continue to stir the sauce over a small fire, in a few minutes it will become more attractive and thicker.
You can pour milk or broth into a saucepan in a thin stream to facilitate the process, for example, you can use a special glass with a “spout or groove” to help control the amount of liquid.
