by Laura Kleban

Created on: May 08, 2010

Cheese Sauce for Vegetables

If you are reading this article, it is very likely that you are a lover of cheese! I, like many people, love cheese in many various forms, but one great way to get my cheese fix is in a home-made sauce served over vegetables.  

The following sauce recipe is really a basic cheese sauce. I use this sauce for many purposes, including pouring it over vegetables. I also use this sauce on pasta, rice and it can double as a cheese spread if it is refrigerated correctly.

The trick to making a good cheese sauce is patience. If you rush and try using higher heat to melt the cheese for the sauce, you have a good chance of burning it, and try to keep the heat low as you are stirring in the milk, as too much heat will cause the sauce to break.

Cheese Sauce Recipe:

Ingredients:

4 oz. shredded cheddar cheese

Half Cup evaporated milk (sweetened, condensed)

A few pinches of salt

Half tsp. dry mustard

1 small egg, beaten

In a double boiler pan, place two cups of water in the bottom, and place the shredded cheddar in the top. Over medium-high heat, melt the cheddar cheese until it starts to look like a lump, but it is mostly melted.

In a small bowl, mix the evaporated milk, dry mustard and salt. When the cheese is melted, stir in the mixture. Continue stirring until the mixture is creamy and all of the cheese is melted.

Remove the top pan from the heat and stir in the beaten egg. Return the pan to the top of the double broiler and continue to cook over medium heat until the egg is cooked. This takes about 4-5 minutes.

Pour the hot sauce into a serving dish and cover it with plastic wrap. The sauce is quite thin at this point, but it will thicken. You can make it thicken a bit more quickly by placing it in the refrigerator for 5 minutes or so before serving.

This sauce goes very well over a variety of vegetables. I have tried it over broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts and green peas. Not all experiments work out, but try it with your favorite!

I also use this sauce for other things, but I double the recipe. In order to store this sauce for up to three weeks, pour it while it is still hot into a glass mason jar and put it in the refrigerator overnight to chill. It heats well, but it can also be used as a spread for crackers!

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