Basic White Sauce

2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup milk or cream

Melt butter in frying pan. Add flour and salt. Turn heat to very low. Mash flour and butter together to make a lump-free paste. Increase heat and add one cup of milk or cream. Stir constantly until everything is blended and cream thickens.

Variations:
Sauté some fine chopped onion and other vegetables like bell pepper, broccoli, mushroom or any other combination. Add rosemary or oregano or both and a little salt while sautéing. This can even have a little ham or chicken pieces added in. Take all this out of the fry pan to make the white sauce and then add it back in when finished.

Or for a cheese sauce, add ¼- ½ cup of grated cheese after making the white sauce. Fresh Parmesan, Romano, or Asiago cheeses work best. You can add a pinch of dry mustard to this too. I usually don’t have any on hand so it works without it.

Serve over your favorite pasta cooked el dente.
bon appetit!