Fish Mornay and a basic white sauce

This is one of those retro meals from the 70’s that paved the way for such delights as Tuna Mornay, Salmon Mornay, filled vol-au-vents and creamy pie fillings. Where we would be without them? I had one piece of white fish fillet in the freezer plus wanted to ‘move along’ a tin of green beans. (Who invented putting green beans in a tin? Not the nicest tasting thing but did the job.)

If you can make a basic white sauce, I think you can make a pretty good tasting meal out of anything. We had corned meat and vegetables last night for dinner and whipping up a basic white sauce to serve with it rounded the meal off nicely. Even if you have plain old vegetables. Top them with a white sauce and grated cheese, put under the grill until melted and you’ll have the kids

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eating vegetables in no time. (Well most kids, my daughter excluded.)

Basic White Sauce

• 2 tablespoons butter (or margarine)
• 2 tablespoons plain flour
• 1 cup milk

Note:  Double or triple the quantities depending on the amount of sauce you need.

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add flour, stirring for approx 1 minute. This cooks off the ‘raw’ taste of the flour.
3. Add milk and stir with a wooden spoon or whisk until thickened. This should take about 3-5 minutes.

Add fish, prawns, tinned fish, chicken and vegetables for pie fillings, served over rice or pasta, stirred through pasta and baked in the oven for a pasta bake. Add a cup of any kind of cheese for a cheese sauce. Add 1 tablespoon of curry powder for a curried white sauce. This basic white sauce tastes far better than anything you get in a jar and its made in 5 minutes.