Bléchamel sauce

I am a fan of French cuisine, truly, though admittedly I tend to shy away from the creamier concoctions of Mornay and Hollandaise sauces. What I am not a fan of, and find it is one of the common ingredients of British "Italian" cooking, is Béchamel sauce. It is used in addition to red sauce to make lasagne or, gasp, eggplant parmigiana. What is this all about, white sauce as a layer? Gobsmacked, I tell you.

But wait, Jamie Oliver does it! Nigella Lawson does it! Delia does it!

Mario Batali does not. Emeril Lagasse does (he calls it Manly Man Lasagne). Martha Stewart sticks with the traditional red. My brother David  never put a white sauce in his . . . OK, he’s not Italian, but anyone I have known with an Italian background, at least when I’ve been in the kitchen with them, has not made a roux a layer.

Flour, milk, butter . . . red sauce? Well, this just didn’t seem to be right. I Googled it and found that northern Italians tend to use the béchamel whereas the southern Italians prefer ricotta. I think I am a Southern belle, then!

(Can you even buy Béchamel in a jar in New Jersey? I can’t recall having ever seen it.)

Poor Tim. He came home excited to make me eggplant (aubergine) parmigiana, one of my favourite meals. There’s a place in Harrison, New Jersey, called Nino’s that is for me makes one of the best—thinly-sliced eggplant, red sauce, a bit of cheese and no hint of Béchamel. Every time I go back to New Jersey I find myself there, usually ordering just that.

Out came the ingredients Tim purchased, and lo and behold a jar of Dolmio appeared. I wasn’t kind; I reminded Tim that I don’t like white sauce and would not have it used for my eggplant parmigiana. I was perhaps a bit strong. The Dolmio went into the cupboard.

There was also some mince (aka chop meat) produced. OK, so, I wouldn’t combine the two, but I could see this was starting to be more like moussaka . . . which is what Tim had in his mind. I was dreaming of Nino’s version, a side of whole wheat pasta and a salad with balsamic vinaigrette.

The compromise, in the end, was quite good—eggplant sliced skin-on, brushed with olive oil and grilled, then layered in a dish with a bit of cheese and red sauce, no Béchamel. The side was whole wheat spaghetti and we did use the mince so it was a la Bolognese, and the same sauce was used to layer the eggplant though straining the sauce so there was little meat with the eggplant (it was all we had at the time).

I had the leftovers for dinner one evening when Tim was away. The flavours melded nicely and the eggplant was delicious, not all that far off the mark from Mr Nino. Things can only get better!