Serves 4

Make a basic white sauce using Westfalia Plain and Garlic Flavoured Avocado Oil instead of butter. Add sautéed mushrooms for a delicious umami flavour to prepare a versatile mushroom sauce. A few everyday seasonings like mustard and fresh thyme are perfect to elevate a basic sauce. Do look at the tips in the recipe to get creative and easily adjust the flavour to a pepper, herb or jalapeño sauce.

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 10 ml (2 tsp) Westfalia Garlic Flavoured Avocado Oil
  • 250 g button or portabellini mushrooms, thickly sliced
  • 25 ml (5 tsp) Westfalia Plain Avocado Oil 
  • 25 ml (5 tsp) cake flour 
  • 310 ml (1 ¼ cup) milk 
  • 10 ml (2 tsp) Dijon mustard or more to taste
  • 15 ml (1 tbsp) fresh thyme leaves
  • lemon juice, salt and pepper, to taste

 

Method

  1. Heat a saucepan over medium heat, add garlic-flavoured avocado oil and pan-fry mushrooms in two batches until golden brown. Spoon out and set aside. 
  2. Pour plain avocado oil into the same pan and allow to heat up slightly. Stir in flour to form a paste and cook for 1 minute. 
  3. Gradually add small quantities of milk at a time and stir continuously with a whisk or a wooden spoon, until all the milk is absorbed before adding more milk. 
  4. Repeat with rest of milk to form a smooth sauce. Simmer for 3-5 minutes until sauce thickens and is cooked. 
  5. Stir in the pan-fried mushrooms and season sauce with mustard, fresh thyme, lemon juice, salt and a good grind of black pepper.
  6. Serve the sauce warm and in any way you prefer. We love this healthy version on steamed broccoli, a pan-fried chicken fillet or steak, or on your favourite homemade burger. 

 

Tips
  1. To make a thin pouring white sauce for pasta, use only 15 ml (1 tbsp) Westfalia Plain Avocado Oil with 15 ml (1 tbsp) cake flour and 250 ml (1 cup) milk. Thin down the sauce with more milk, if preferred. For a thick binding sauce use 45 ml (3 tbsp) Westfalia Plain Avocado Oil with 45 ml (3 tbsp) cake flour and 250 ml (1 cup) milk.
  2. Try these different variations. You can decide if you want to add some of these with the mushrooms, or just one of the elements for a different flavour profile. Herb sauce: Add 25 ml fresh, chopped herbs of your choice with lemon juice and finely grated rind to taste. Pepper sauce: Add 20-30 ml preserved green peppercorns, crushed; and season with mustard and lemon juice, and brandy or sherry to taste. Jalapeño sauce: Add 8-10 chopped jalapeños to the sauce.