Make a Simple Mustard Sauce
Mustard, a tasty condiment on its own, can also be used the central ingredient in a variety of delicious sauces. This basic mustard-infused white sauce (or "roux" base) is great served hot with a range of dishes (we like it with steamed vegetables), or chilled and spread on cold deli meats. Read on below the jump for a detailed recipe. Serves 4.
Ingredients
- 2T butter
- 2T plain / all purpose flour
- 1 generous tablespoon Hot-English style mustard.
- 1.5 cups of milk
- Salt and pepper to taste.
Optional extra:
- 1T Chopped fresh parsley
Steps
- Melt butter in the saucepan over low heat and add the mustard. Stir until fragrant (about half a minute).
- Add the flour and stir until smooth. Cook gently just until it has turned a slightly lighter color as the roux has started to cook.
- Add the milk gradually in about 6 batches. Stir each time until incorporated. If using a whisk, you can add it in two batches but multiple batches is better with wooden spoons to avoid lumps.
- Stir until thickened and season to taste. If it tastes slightly floury, the sauce has not finished cooking. Continue simmering and stirring for another minute or two until it the floury taste is cooked out. Add the parsley at this stage if you included it.
- Serve poured over the meal. It can be kept warm easily up to 20 minutes in a bain marie as it may thicken more as it cools.
- Finished.
Tips
- Leftover sauce should be chilled with cling film covering its surface to prevent a skin forming. Its good cold, or added as a flavor base into a hot gravy style sauce if one is made within 2 days.
- Stir well on low heat to avoid sticking or burning the sauce.
- Hot English mustard is the type to use as Dijon or other mild mustard can become too bland and mild in flavor. Hot English becomes much milder in the milk based sauce, but still has a nice mustard flavor.
- If the sauce has several lumps as it thickened quickly, take it off the heat and beat vigorously with a whisk until incorporated. Alternatively stop adding the milk and cook the sauce back to a thick paste, then beat until smooth and then continue adding the milk.
Warnings
- If you need to leave the sauce, take the pan off the heat to prevent burning. If the sauce does burn, take it off the heat and don't stir it. Tip the non burnt "clean" sauce into a new pan and continue. The burnt or stuck sauce in the old pan should be scraped out and thrown away.
Things You'll Need
- Saucepan
- Whisk or wooden spoon
- Measuring utensils.
