White Sauce with Parsley

A great sauce to go with your ham. The secret to the success of this sauce: stir, stir, stir, and stir!

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

a knob of butter
a tablespoon of white flour
300 ml milk
half a bunch of parsley
a pinch of salt
pepper
nutmeg

Please do not use dried parsley as it has the taste of newspaper. Parsley particularly doesn't like drying and tastes horrible if dried. If you don't have fresh parsley, get on your skates and buy some.

Preparation

	Put a knob of butter into a saucepan and heat it up until the butter has melted.
	Now slowly add a tablespoon of flour. Whilst adding the flour, stir with a fork to mix the butter and the flour. You have to be quick here and make sure that there are no lumps forming - not a problem if you keep stirring.
	Keep stirring with a fork until all the flour has absorbed the butter. Continue stirring whilst heating the saucepan until the mixture is smooth and there are no lumps or white bits of flour.
	Now slowly add the milk whilst still stirring. Each time you add a bit of milk, wait for the sauce to come to a boil. You will feel the sauce thickening every time it reaches a boil. Slowly add milk, bring to boil, etc. until you have added all the milk.
	The result is a creamy, smooth and firm sauce base.
	Now we add a pinch of salt ...
	... and about 20 turns of the peppermill. Then add some freshly grated nutmeg.
	Add the fresh, chopped parsley to the sauce and stir. Taste the sauce and add salt / pepper / nutmeg to your taste.
	You can let the sauce cool down and re-heat it, so you don't have to prepare it at the same time the rest of your meal needs all the attention. Simply stir whilst re-heating.

Best with ...

ham

10	ive always had a problem with the flour settling on the bottom of the saucepan during cooking. but found your method prevents this . thankyou .
10	Tastes just the way my mother used to make it. And I thought it was going to be complicated.
10	This is the best. My mum and dad said it was good! Mum said very good and Dad's usual reply is OK. Mum has been making white sauce for about 50 years so I am rapt. I didn't add the nutmeg. Will it add to the flavour a lot? The pictures make it so easy. Thanks again. Lawrie Comben
9	Ive just moved away from home. My mom's a great cook who cooks with a "pinch" of this and a "dash" of that.. so as expected my white sauce was just a DISASTER! Your recipe was easy peasy and I blended in some boiled spinach and mushrooms. The sauce got a nice mushroomy flavour and poured over vegge crepes. YUMMM! Thank you..
10	Went to a friends house and they used it for caulifour which was yummy and I guess would probably go with brocoli as well
10	Ace, I took the recipe and gave it my own tweak!! Just the base I needed!!
10	yummy
9	Have just introduced my Chinese family to roast pork - jacket potatoes and a daring attempt at your white sauce with cauliflower, Having seen how it was all devoured (with chopsticks)only one crit - need to double ingredients - shi shi ni (thank you)
10	I tried this with Stake and found it a very tasty combo - used fried onions+mushrooms to complement.
10	its realy nice!
8	I agree - dried parsley is rubbish
10	I add a disc of buttered greesproof paper to stop a skin forming if pre cooking the sauce. did you kn ow my grandmaNULL mairead christine. she died at 80. she taught me. you would have got on.
10	Just like my mother used to make! Sometimes would embellish it by adding some grated cheese also over veggies such as brussel sprouts, peas, etc.
10	very informative with the pictures an added bonus
9	I always used to have problems making white sauce, but with the great pictures and detailed instructions, I was able to make the perfect sauce.
8	easy simple instructions to follow
10	fantastic recipe. I'm not great with sauces but this was simple, and came out perfect. Hats off to you
10	thank you for the recipe - turned out great. Yes, the stirring seems to do the trick!

Sauces, Salads, etc.:

White Sauce with Parsley

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

Preparation

Best with ...