The Food Puzzler ©

Today, I’m starting an occasional series that ties together traditional cooking and healthy alternatives with an eye to budget friendliness.

My focus is on sauces, which can be brought together with very few ingredients, are incredibly versatile, and can make any dish extra special. As I’ve learned through puzzling with basic components, sauces can even be healthy, including the classic French Mother Sauce called Béchamel, a milk-based sauce with the texture and density of cream.

What is a Mother Sauce? The term was coined in the mid-19th century by Antonin Careme, one of the world’s first celebrity chefs*. Mother Sauces are essentially ‘parent’ sauces from which any other sauce can be created. This list was modified in the early 20th century by his successor, Auguste Escoffier*, but Béchamel remained firmly on the list.

Béchamel on its own is lovely as accompaniment to chicken or fish, but one of its more popular smaller sauces is cheese-based. There were few lessons which could get my students’ collective attention better than knowing they were about to make a cheese sauce. Through that, one can make a quick broccoli cheddar soup, fondue or Welsh rarebit, pizza base, or the ever-popular Mac and Cheese.

I modified the traditional recipe here, for ease of use as well as to minimize the number of costly aromatics, herbs and spices generally used.

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Modified Béchamel Converted to a Four-Cheese Sauce

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: ~10 minutes
Yield: 8 quarter cup/2 ounce servings

INGREDIENTS

Béchamel:​
2 tablespoons of wheat, spelt or gluten-free flour
2 tablespoons of butter
1 pint of whole milk
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
Pepper* and Salt to taste

Cheese Sauce:
Yield from Béchamel sauce
1 teaspoon soy or Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon mustard powder or 1/2 teaspoon mustard
1 cup grated or cubed cheese of choice
Salt to taste

STEPS

Béchamel

1. In a medium sauce pan, combine flour and butter. Cook for 1-2 minutes on medium-low heat, continuously stirring to ensure that the floury taste is cooked out and the mixture doesn’t burn. You want there to be little color change, as otherwise the color of the sauce will be affected. Remove from the heat and set aside.

2. Gently heat milk in a sauce pan. Milk burns very quickly, and it’s a big hassle to get the burnt remains out of a pan, so it’s important to warm the milk at a low temperature. Alternately, warm slightly, uncovered, in 10-second stages in the microwave.

3. Once warmed, slowly incorporate the milk into the butter-flour mixture and return to heat. Whisk continually to ensure that the ingredients combine completely. As you warm the sauce, it will begin to thicken.

4. Take the mixture off of the heat once it begins to resemble cream, strain if necessary and season it with onion powder, pepper and salt to taste. Should the sauce over thicken before use, whisk in warm milk at tablespoon at a time to thin it out.

Here, you can stop, add fresh herbs or sliced mushrooms, and use it with chicken or fish, or as the base for a pizza. My sister-in-law likes to use Béchamel in place of ricotta in lasagna, and it’s equally tasty.

Otherwise, to continue to the cheese sauce stage:

5. Add in the soy or Worcestershire sauce and mustard, stir to combine.

6. Add in your cheese and stir to combine until the resulting product is smooth. Taste and adjust salt to taste.

At this point, you can stir in cooked pasta, or a combination of cooked pasta and vegetables for mac and cheese, chopped hot peppers for a dip, or broccoli for a warming soup.

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NOTES and NUTRITION

~ https://thefoodpuzzler.com/2016/02/02/adventures-in-teaching-round-one-nutrition-and-food-cost/

~ http://www.britannica.com/biography/Marie-Antoine-Careme and http://www.britannica.com/biography/Auguste-Escoffier

~ White pepper has a much stronger flavor and aroma than black pepper. However, for cream-based sauces and mashed cauliflower, celery root, or potatoes, restaurants opt for white pepper because it blends seamlessly and is not visible. I’m more a fan of black pepper’s flavor so when cooking at home that’s what I use. If you prefer white pepper, start with pinches (1/8th teaspoon) and adjust after tasting.

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Now for the fun part: facts and figures!

I’ll start with cost, first for the sauce itself and then for the initial outlay of money to invest in all of the components.

The price for making an individual batch of the cheese sauce is $2. For another $1 you can get a pound of pasta, cook half and toss with the sauce, serving 2-3 people with another half pound of pasta leftover for another time. For another $2 instead, make veggie noodles from a couple of zucchini and toss with the sauce and also serve 2-3 people.

The price for purchasing all ingredients for the first time is $16.50. The breakdown:

Milk: up to $1.50 for a quart
Butter: $3 for one pound
Flour of choice: $1.50 for a small package, depending on preferred brand
Salt: $1
White pepper: $1
Onion Powder: $1
2-cup bag of shredded 4-cheese blend: $2.50
Mustard/ mustard powder: $2
Soy or Worcestershire sauce: $3

The good news is that all but the milk and cheese will still be pretty much full and available for plenty of cooking and baking. Since you use only about half of the milk and cheese, you can also make another batch of the cheese sauce.

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Nutrition facts gathered from purchased product labels and supplemented with information supplied by http://nutritiondata.self.com.

The calorie and fat content for a 1/4 cup of the either the standalone béchamel sauce or corresponding cheese sauce isn’t as bad as you might imagine, but none of the nutrients are high either.

One way to boost that is through some healthy additions:

1. Depending on the color of your sauce, various puréed root vegetables blend well. For the Béchamel, add puréed creamy (peeled) potatoes like Yukon Gold or red bliss. For cheddar cheese sauces, fold in a cup of puréed butternut squash or (peeled) sweet potato.

2. Fold in chopped, steamed or sautéed vegetables to a base cheese sauce for a warming soup or to enhance a Mac and cheese.

Basic information appears below.

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Nutritional Information for 1/4 cup (two ounces) of Béchamel

58 calories
1.5 grams Carbohydrates
4.6 grams Fat
1.5 g Saturated
0.37 Monounsaturated
0.4 Polyunsaturated
2.2 grams Protein
10.6 mg Cholesterol
95 mg Potassium
2.5 mg Omega 3 fatty acids
18 mg Omega 6 fatty acids
72.5 mg Calcium
7 mg Magnesium
32 IU Vitamin D

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Nutritional information for 1/4 cup (two ounces) of the Cheese Sauce

72 calories
1.5 grams Carbohydrates
5.6 grams Fat
2.5 g Saturated
0.37 Monounsaturated
0.4 Polyunsaturated
3.2 grams Protein
13.6 mg Cholesterol
225 mg Sodium
95 mg Potassium
2.5 mg Omega 3 fatty acids
18 mg Omega 6 fatty acids
250 mg Calcium
7 mg Magnesium
32 IU Vitamin D

For the longest time, I saw chili powder as that, well, spice for chili. I really had no other use for it, and the poor spice bottle languished on the spice rack for a long loooooong time.

Then came Enchiladas! The subtle smokiness and hint of heat in the sauce was so enticing and delicious, that I started making everything into enchiladas, then just making the sauce just to have on top of anything that could do with a savory flavor boost. Vegetables, rice, chicken, eggs, oatmeal…

I may have taken it too far with the oatmeal. But it was *really* good oatmeal.

Enchilada sauce is very quick and easy to make; you can prepare it in advance or develop it as you cook the filling. My current favorite filling is mushrooms. With a texture and earthy flavor that becomes meaty after cooking, saucy enchilada mushrooms are great as part of a meatless meal. They’re equally yummy served over rice, cauliflower ‘couscous,’* pasta or Zoodles.*

Or, of course, wrapped up in your tortillas of choice, topped with more sauce along with melty cheese, and baked until bubbly and warm. 😊

Saucy Enchilada Mushrooms
Copyright 2015 Lauren Bradford (aka The Food Puzzler)

Serves 2 as a meal, 4 as a side
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

~ 16 oz. sliced white or baby portobello mushrooms, cleaned*
~ 2 cups cooked rice, cauliflower ‘couscous,’ pasta or Zoodles
~ 1/2 cup water, possibly more if needed
~ 4 heaping teaspoons chili powder
~ 1 teaspoon onion powder
~ 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
~ 1/4 teaspoon each of turmeric, salt, and cumin
~ 3 tablespoons of plain, spicy, garlic, or red pepper hummus

STEPS

1. Place your cleaned, sliced mushrooms in a frying pan with 1/2 cup of water, bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. If you’re serving this dish with pasta or rice, start getting the appropriate amount of water boiling in a pot as instructed by the manufacturer.

2. Add in the spices and salt, mixing completely. Continue to simmer for about 5 minutes. The mushrooms will start releasing their liquid, so the mixture will appear watery but that’s OK, this dish needs to simmer for a little while and the excess liquid will concentrate.

3. Then, add in 3 tablespoons of plain, spicy, garlic, or red pepper-flavored hummus and mix completely. This adds rich creaminess and texture. Continue cooking until the mixture concentrates to your desired thickness, about 10~15 minutes.

4. Prepare your base for the mushrooms as the mixture simmers:

~ For spiralized zucchini /summer squash or cauliflower: in a microwave-safe bowl covered with a moist paper towel and microwave for 3 minutes.

~ For rice or pasta, prepare now based on manufacturer’s instructions.

~ Pictured above is an enchilada bowl, including cauliflower couscous, jasmine rice, the mushrooms with a little grated cheddar, and salad loaded with carrots and tri-color peppers. Traditional style enchilada assembly warrants its own post and pictures, and is coming soon.

NOTES

~ Mushrooms spoil quickly after being washed, so they are packaged having been brushed off, and still should be cleaned before cooking. There’s a couple of ways to do this, the quickest is to rinse them thoroughly in a colander just before cooking. The way I was taught in Culinary school, and the method I still use for whole mushrooms, is to wipe them all completely with a damp towel.

~ If you haven’t tried spiralized vegetables before, it’s pretty neat! The basic spiralizer (like the one I have, the Vegetti) works sorta like a pencil sharpener. You take a vegetable like zucchini, trim off the end and place it into one of the two sides to get either linguine- or fettuccini-sized noodles by twisting the vegetable. The handheld Vegetti I have works best with zucchini, summer squash and cucumber.

~ When I pulse cauliflower pieces in my food processor (no more than a cupful at a time for best results) the pieces look more like couscous to me, than rice. Maybe I need to work on the process, but it still tastes good.

~ I like the texture and flavor of this dish when I use only water to cook the mushrooms, and the spices mix well in the water, but that doesn’t mean olive oil couldn’t be used if you prefer it. In that case:

1. Use a small amount (1-2 tablespoons) olive oil, place in the cleaned mushrooms and sauté on medium-high heat. You’ll get a nice crusting on the mushrooms before they start to release liquid.

2. To prevent the oil from coming out of the pan in reaction to the water needed to combine the spices, take the pan off of the heat, warm the water and then add to the pan with the spices. Combine and then bring to a boil before reducing to simmer.

Base Memela shells before baking.

At a Mexican restaurant one night, celebrating a friend’s birthday, I tried an amazing veggie dish whose base was the same Maseca used in making pupusas (https://thefoodpuzzler.com/2016/02/01/pumped-for-pupusas/).

The dish was called Vegetable Memelas. The Memelas start like pupusas, but after making the dough and forming them into discs, you fry them unstuffed and top them as desired. At the restaurant, my Memela was topped with a pile of delicious sautéed veggies and cheese, but Maseca has such a delicate texture and flavor, you can top the resulting discs or shells pretty much any way you like.

In experimenting with the dough, I started pressing up the sides to form little tart shells so that I could also use them for liquid-based ingredients. I’ve made breakfast dishes with eggs and cheese, mini pizzas, and veggie-bean chili, to name a few, and the dishes have ranged from meat-based to vegan.

Enjoy!

Memelas/ Memela Tart Shells
Copyright 2014 Lauren Bradford (aka The Food Puzzler)

Ingredients:

~ 2 cups Maseca cornmeal
~ up to 2 cups water
~ pinch salt

Steps:

~ Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

~ In a bowl, place the Maseca and salt and lightly stir to distribute.

~ Using your hands, begin incorporating the water, starting with one cup and adding as you knead the dough. You want to have dough that has, essentially, the consistency of play-doh. You’ll be able to form smaller balls that are pliable and don’t crack.

~ Divide the dough into equal portions of the size you desire, and form them into balls. For Memelas, I usually form four balls from this batch.

~ Place a ball into a plastic bag and lay on a flat surface. Then, with a flat and solid plate, flatten the ball to a disc of 1/2 inch-thick consistency. Repeat with all dough balls until you have all discs. From here, you have two options.

OPTION ONE: Memelas

~ Place a small amount of oil in your skillet, just enough to brush all around the bottom and sides. You’re more sautéing these discs than frying.

~ Cook each disc until golden brown, serve topped as desired.

OPTION TWO: Memela Shells

~ Line a cookie sheet pan with parchment, as you’ll be baking the shells.

~ Place each disc on the lined cookie sheet with a little separation from each other. With lightly wet hands, press a 1/4 inch around the edges of each circle up to make free-form tart shells like the picture above.

~ Bake the shells for about 5-10 minutes, or until they start to firm up. Each oven varies, especially nowadays when convection and conventional ovens are widely available, so start checking after 5 minutes.

~ Remove from the oven and fill as desired. See NOTES.

NOTES

~ For breakfast dishes, I place leftover veggies or veggie chili in the baked shells, top with an egg, and bake until the egg is cooked to the desired level.

~ For the creamy-coated dish above, I placed leftover veggie chili and then salsa in the shell and baked until warm, topping with a purée of cannellini beans and Sriracha drizzle. This can also be created by placing a cooked Memela disc on a plate, and topping with warm chili along with cheese or creamy sauce.

~ For Memela pizza, fill the shell with some tomato sauce or sliced tomatoes and then your melty cheese of choice, and bake until cheese has gone all sorts of gooey.

~ These discs and shells go well with cold salads too, but to ensure that they don’t get soggy before eating, place dressed salad in shells shortly before serving.

~ As with pupusa dough, feel free to add herbs or spices to the raw dough.

Pupusas ready to eat!

Stuffed Pupusa Pizza, so yummy!

A dough ball ready to flatten.

Flattened discs ready to stuff.

During my time teaching cooking to high school students, I had a specific set of lessons to cover, as well as weekly meal preparation for luncheons and other catered functions. However, we still had the occasional free day to have a little fun. I figured that the kids would be more interested in an activity if we cooked something they actually like to eat, so I asked each period for the students to let me know what they’d like to learn how to cook. What kids don’t imagine telling a teacher what to do, right?

So, almost unanimously, students asked to learn how to make pupusas. I hadn’t heard of them before, and most of the students could only tell me that it was comfort food that they’d eaten all their lives. But they had no idea what was in them. Or how to make them. (The few who had experience making them opened up eventually. You know, after I’d successfully and thoroughly made an idiot of myself. 😉 )

Fortunately for me, I had Wikipedia! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pupusa

Pupusas are stuffed cornmeal cakes made with Maseca–specially ground cornmeal that can be found in pretty much any grocery store–a pinch of salt, and water. It can be served alongside a slaw, but my students were partial to a salsa made from placing tomatoes, peppers, onions in a food processor to achieve a roughly chopped consistency, and cooking them with Sazón by Goya (those aforementioned students who had some knowledge on the subject were emphatic about that point, Goya brand is best for this recipe).

After six years of making pupusas with students, they have become one of my comfort foods. They are tasty, versatile, can be made in sizes ranging from appetizer to main course, and are fairly simple to make. In addition to topping with salsa, in one picture above you can also see I topped cooked pupusas with sauce and cheese to make a ‘stuffed pupusa pizza.’

Enjoy!

Cheese Pupusas
Copyright 2010 Lauren Bradford (aka The Food Puzzler)

Ingredients:

~ 2 cups Maseca cornmeal
~ up to 2 cups water
~ pinch salt
~ 1/2 cup shredded soft cheese, such as mozzarella
~ oil for sautéing

Steps:

~ Place the Maseca and salt in a bowl, lightly stir to distribute.

~ Using your hands, begin incorporating the water, starting with one cup and adding as you knead the dough. You want to have dough that has, essentially, the consistency of play-doh. You’ll be able to form smaller balls that are pliable and don’t crack.

~ Divide the dough into equal portions of the size you desire, and form them into balls. The pictured dough balls are from dividing the dough into 8 pieces.

~ Place a ball into a plastic bag and lay on a flat surface. Then, with a flat and solid plate, flatten the ball to a disc of 1/2 inch-thick consistency. Repeat with all dough balls until you have all discs completed.

~ Divide the cheese into the same amount of portions as the dough discs, and place some cheese on top of each disc, being careful not to use too much filling. For instance, for a disc that’s 3 inches wide, you want no more than 1 tablespoon of filling.

~ With lightly wet hands, gently fold up all of the edges of the dough disc and keep working until the dough encapsulates the filling entirely, smoothing any rough edges and reforming the disc shape. Repeat until all discs are stuffed.

~ Lightly coat a frying pan with oil, or lightly oil each disc, and cook the pupusas until they start to turn golden brown, flipping once.

Serve topped with salsa: in a food processor, place 1 green pepper, 1/2 a medium sweet onion, and 2 tomatoes, and pulse to get a roughly chopped consistency. Add this into a sauce pan along with one half of a packet of the Sazón and cook until bubbling. Taste and adjust seasoning if desired.

NOTES:

~ Cheese, chicken, pork, and beans are all traditional fillings, but because the Maseca mixture results in a soft dough, your filling needs to be soft as well. Cheese should be a soft version like mozzarella, warmed slightly in a microwave, beans should be mashed, meat should be shredded fine, and so forth.

~ I’ve added spices to the dough as well, usually chili powder for color and kick.

~ Cooked pupusas do not store and re-heat well; exposing the Maseca to the cold temperatures of fridge and freezer effect the texture. Fresh is always best, but if you make more than you need, uncooked stuffed discs can be frozen for later use.