Béchamel/Basic white sauce

This is my go-to white sauce that I use for pretty much everything. I use this, or a variation of this, for my lasagna, my cauliflower cheese, macaroni cheese or as a sauce with mushrooms for chicken.

A white sauce or Bechamel sauce is made in stages starting with making a Roux first.

Ingredients
500ml Milk
5 tbsp flour (50g)
50g butter
100g grated white cheddar (optional, only for Mornay)

Method

1. Put the flour and butter a saucepan over heat and beat together. This will make the thick Roux which is the basis of most white sauces such as bechamel or a Mornay.
2. Next add the milk, you can also use cream instead of half and half if you prefer. I don't add the milk all at once, but add in 3 parts. Keep whisking and you will see your sauce form.
3. When the sauce is thick but creamy and bubbling,  then season with salt and pepper.
4. Now you have a White sauce or Bechamel sauce. 
5. At this stage, if you are making this sauce for cauliflower cheese for example, you can take it off the heat and add the cheese and mix quickly to melt the cheese into the sauce. You should be left with a lovely thick smooth white sauce. Adding grated cheese to a Bechamel or white sauce gives you a Mornay sauce.