Sauce Fromage et Jambon

[mvscal]

.........OK, OK. Mac & cheese with ham. If you have kids, they'll love it. If you're looking for health food, back away slowly. This is a fairly quick and easy cheese sauce with a number of different applications. It is a daughter sauce of bechamel.

2 cups whole milk
2 tbs butter
3 tbs flour
salt & white pepper
1 lbs cheese grated.
1/2 lbs ham
1 lbs cooked pasta

The type of cheese is up to you. I use 8 oz. gruyere and 8 oz smoked cheddar. If you prefer a tangy sauce, use a sharp cheddar. Start by making your bechamel.

Bring the milk, 1/4 tsp of salt and a good dash of white pepper to a near boil in a small, heavy bottomed sauce pan. While you are doing this, melt the butter in a heavy 2 qt. sauce pan over med. heat and mix in flour while stirring constantly. After it foams for about 2 minutes, add the hot milk, whisk the roux and milk vigorously and raise heat to med high while whisking constantly to avoid scorching. Boil for another minute and the sauce will thicken.

Leave the burner on and remove pan from heat. Add the cheese one handful at a time stirring until melted and integrated. You will want to place the pan back on the heat from time to time to keep the sauce warmed. Once all the cheese has been folded in, place pan back on low-medium low heat for about five minutes. Just enough heat for a slow, lazy bubble (keep stirring). Season to taste. Your sauce should be velvet smooth and ready to go. Add chunked, precooked ham and toss over 16 oz. shell or elbow mac pasta.

You can also put it in a buttered baking dish and top with buttered, panko type bread crumbs and bake it till crispy. The sauce is excellent on steamed broccoli and cauliflower as well.

[Mikey]

When I was in the Virgin Islands years ago I had this incredible mac and cheese at a restaurant there. It was like one of those home cooked gourmet dishes. I think it's like some kind of tradition in the Caribbean or something. I don't know how they did it but I wish I did.

[trev]

Sauce Fromage et Jambon

I don't know what this means, but I love when you talk like this.

[Mikey]

That's not pronounced "jam bone".

[Goober McTuber]

Sauce Fromage et Jambon

I don't know what this means, but I love when you talk like this.

Sauce from a johnson. He talks the talk. I’ll walk the walk.