Creamy Parmesan Noodles

Growing up, whenever we'd eat fish, we always had creamy parmesan pasta (usually with shell noodles), so, since we can't use the packaged kind, I had to improvise.

The easiest way to start is to doa white sauce, or a Béchamel.  It's easy and if you have it in your repetoire, it can be used for a variety of things. 

Basic sauce recipe:

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp flour

2 cups milk

Melt butter in a pot over medium heat.

 
Once it is fully melted, add the flour.  Wisk like crazy to get any lumps out.

Now you have a "roux" (REW).  You can use this to thicken many sauces including gravies. The key to a good béchamel, is to cook the roux for a minute or two so the flour loses it's floury taste.

Then add the milk and stir to combine.  Bring to a simmer and as the sauce heats it will thicken.  You can wait until the sauce thickens to add spices, but why bother?  You have a few minutes, might as well add them now.  As I said before, you can do ANYHING with this sauce...  cheeses, spices, have fun, be creative!

I added

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp garlic

1/4 tsp onion powder

1 tsp salt

and a few grinds of fresh black pepper

Once it thickened, I took it off the heat and added

2 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese.

This recipe makes enough sauce to cover about 3 cups of dry pasta (cooked).  I wasn't sure when I was making it, so I only used 2 cups, so it was extra creamy... not that it was a bad thing.