Cream Sauce

I love cream sauce, and this one is slightly better than the traditional recipe that uses butter, white flour, and whole milk.

Last night I made this and put in some red pepper flakes and a can of chopped tomatoes in juice. I served it over whole wheat penne with chopped chicken. It was creamy, spicy and delicious!

For 4 servings:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon whole wheat flour
1 cup nonfat milk, room temp or slightly warm if possible
at least 1 teaspoon salt (more, to taste)

Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan on medium until it is fragrant but not smoking. Sprinkle in the flour while whisking. Allow to cook 1~2 mins, whisking occasionally.

While whisking, slowly pour in the milk. The colder the milk, the more slowly you must pour and the more vigorously you must whisk.

Allow to thicken before seasoning.

Some ideas of healthy things you can add to this basic sauce to suit your tastes include:

• Herbs like basil, thyme, rosemary, nutmeg, or herbs de provence
• Seasonings such as garlic, red pepper flakes, paprika, or chipotle chili powder
• Mild seafood such as scallops, shrimp, crab, halibut, or clams
• Spring veggies such as asparagus, carrots, peas and zuccini and/or summer squash
  
• A jalapeno or canned chipotle chili in adobo, or
• A can of chopped tomatoes in juice

Or any appetizing combination of these things! This sauce is so delicious and so much fun!

This cream sauce with nothing added has:
58 Calories per serving; 3.4 g fat (53%), 2.3 g protein (16%) and 4.5 g carbs (30%)

The traditional cream sauce with nothing added weighs in at:
69 calories per serving; 4.9 g fat (64%), 2.2 g protein (12%) and 4.2 g carbs (24%)

Plus, there is only 1 mg of cholestorol in this sauce, while the traditional sauce has 14 mg. That's 93% less!