Basic Cheese Sauce

By Gail Foley

Cheese sauce is a basic white sauce with cheese melted in it. Start with Easy Peasy White Sauce and add cheeses.

The flavor and texture depend on the cheese used. Don’t use a stringy cheese like Mozzarella. At least, only a little bit. You want a cheese that will melt and has good flavor. Cheddar, Colby, Muenster, Swiss, Jack and American cheeses are good in any combination. Please use American cheese, NOT "cheese food". American slices can be dropped in a few at a time and stirred until melted. If cream cheese is needed, I use lower fat Neufchâtel instead. Just cut off small chunks with a wire cutter and drop them into the bowl. The addition of some grated Parmesan and Romano adds good flavor, but by themselves the texture is a bit grainy.

Experiment with those leftover bits of cheese hanging around in your refrigerator. But no extra mold please! The natural mold from cheeses like Bleu and Roquefort is eminently acceptable.

This can be made lower in fat with skim milk and low fat cheese. If you need pepper for flavor, use finely ground white pepper so there aren't any dirty specks. Cheese is usually pretty salty so be wary of adding additional salt.

2 cups white sauce

1 cup shredded cheese

While white sauce is still hot, add cheese and stir.

Microwave another minute and stir, if needed, to completely melt the cheese.

If more cooking is needed to thicken or melt cheese, repeat the one minute cook and stir as needed.

Yields about 3 cups.