Mornay - Style Sauce

A cheesy white sauce for bakes, pasta and vegetables.

Recipe Creator: Jennifer Walsh

I loved the extra hint of nutmeg in this sauce, it gave it a gentle warmth and added another layer of flavour without overpowering the cheese.

Once the grated cheese was stirred through, the sauce became silky smooth, creamy and rich, but still light enough to spoon generously through a pasta bake.

I used it in tonight’s lasagne and it was delicious. The creamy sauce worked so well between the layers of pasta and meat sauce, and the crispy layer on top was the evening hero.

It’s one of those simple sauces that's worth learning because once you know how to make it, you can use it for so many things, lasagne, cauliflower cheese, pasta bakes, vegetables, or even as the base for other creamy sauces.

Nutmeg is subtle, but it brings a gentle warmth to this sauce and helps round out the richness of the milk, butter and cheese. I only used a small amount, but it was just that little bit more than regular sauces using nutmeg, for me it was a game changer.

This is one of those classic sauces that looks more complicated than it really is. Once you understand the basic process, butter, flour, milk, then cheese, it becomes a very useful sauce to have in your cooking repertoire.

Although I made this for lasagne, I can already see myself using it for cauliflower cheese, vegetable bakes, macaroni cheese, cannelloni and other baked pasta dishes.

The sauce was thick, silky and smooth, which made it perfect for layering through the lasagne. It held its place between the pasta sheets rather than disappearing into the meat sauce, but it was still soft and creamy once baked.

I think this is going to become one of those recipes I make without even thinking about it. It’s simple, comforting and made with ingredients I almost always have in the kitchen. Tonight it was layered through our lasagne, and the combination of creamy cheese sauce with that gentle hint of nutmeg was absolutely delicious.

Sometimes the simplest sauces are the ones that completely change a meal.

If you give this Mornay-style sauce a try, I’d love to hear how you use it in your own kitchen. For me, it was the perfect finishing touch to tonight’s lasagne, creamy and comforting.

Sometimes it’s the simplest recipes that end up becoming the ones you return to most.

Happy Cooking,

L-ikla t-tajba

(Maltese for, enjoy your meal)