Mornay Sauce

Once again, it's been quite a long time since I have posted. Just like in May, I am back with a sauce and fish. Mornay sauce is a Béchamel sauce with grated cheese added. Usually, it consists of half Gruyère and half Parmesan cheese, but there are other variations using different combinations of Gruyère, Emmentaler, Comté or white Cheddar. It is often served with seafood, vegetables or poached egg. I bought beautiful fresh spinach from my greengrocer, who grows all the vegetables by herself and buys the fruits from other producers in her area. Except for the exotic ones, like ginger, lemon and co. I love to buy local and seasonal products, therefore I am more than happy about the opportunity to have such a great greengrocer and other farmers in my area. Now back to the dish! I am not content how the fish got fried, maybe because I used frozen fish or I simply screwed it up. I do not like to freeze fish, because it is far from the fresh one, but sometimes it happens. The organic sea bream I prepared today went really well with the young spinach and the fried orange and purple beetroot.



Ingredients:
(recipe adapted from Michel Roux)
15 g butter
15 g flour
250 ml milk
1 egg yolk
25 ml cream
50 g Gruyère, Emmentaler or Cheddar
freshly grated nutmeg
salt, pepper
First prepare the Béchamel: melt butter over low heat, add flour and mix well. Cook for 2-3 minutes while stirring. Add cold milk and bring it to the boil while stirring constatnly. As soon as it cooks reduce the heat and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Whisk together the egg yolk and the cream and stir in to the Béchamel, then cook for about a minute. Remove it from the heat and stir in the grated cheese. Stir until the cheese is molten and adjust the seasoning.