Ashley’s Favorite Sauces: Quick and Easy Cheese Sauce

This one tiptops the list of easy sauces; all done in a glass measure (my mother’s standard is a two-cup, my favorite is my four-cup) in just a couple minutes in the microwave.

Ready to cover brococli or cauliflower for your picky eaters in no time FLAT!

I’m using it for macaroni and cheese today, which is a lot more usual in my household. I double the recipe I’m writing down below for a full pound of pasta. Double the quantities, that is! Do NOT double your cooking times or you will have a MESS in your microwave, no matter how large your cup-measure. 😊

BASIC CHEESE SAUCE

1 cup milk

2 T margarine or butter

2 T flour 

1/2 C shredded cheddar cheese 

*NOTE on the flour for us gluten-free-ers: nut flours do NOT work to thicken sauces. I love almond flour myself, but it won’t work here. You need a starch-based flour to thicken. I am using white rice flour today.

Heat milk in the microwave for 2 minutes on Power 7. Set aside.

In 2 cup glass measure, melt butter 45 seconds. Stir in flour; microwave one minute. Whisk in warm milk until no lumps remain. Microwave on High 3-4 minutes or until boiling, stirring once during cooking.

Stir in cheese until melted. Let stand several minutes before serving (it should thicken while standing).

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Edited.

Your gluten free flours are touchy, celiacs and gluten-intolerant-ers. 

My rice-flour thickened my sauce to wallpaper-paste consistency while standing, sure enough. It’s happened before. I’ve never figured out why it does sometimes, because other times it does great: they’re TOUCHY, best word I can come up with.

So, just in case? I’m editing to tell you how to fix some common GF flour problems.

To thin down a cheese sauce that’s too thick: get out some more milk and your whisk. Whisk extra milk in, a little at a time, until it’s where you need it.

To thicken a cheese sauce that hasn’t: more cheese is the tastiest solution. Whisk in more shredded cheese and stick back in the microwave for a bit to melt it.

A tablespoon or so of cornstarch, stirred into a quarter cup of milk, and then whisked into your sauce  will do it too. Heat to boiling after whisking in.