Pumpkin Béchamel

Any basic white sauce starts with

Flour

Milk

Butter or oil

Usually starts with two tablespoon flour to one tablespoon butter (or two teaspoons).

The butter is warmed in the pan and the flour stirred in to form a Roux. Then milk is added (around 1 cup for tablespoons of flour).

The mixture is stirred on low heat until combined. Then you can increase the heat to a low boil, or just stir 5-15 minutes. For those who have never heard about Béchamel, chances are you made gravy this way. (Except for gravy, the fat source instead of oil or butter, you use some sort of meat dripping.)

The Adaptation

Add two tablespoons of pureed or canned pumpkin to the flour-butter mixture.

Then add the one cup of milk. Stir on low heat until thickened.

For me, after the sauce was the thickness of gravy, I added 1/4c. Walnuts and one cup of already cooked pasta.

The cons: Often canned pumpkin comes in 16oz or 8 oz. size and it could be bothersome to store the pumpkin.

The pros: Add 1/4teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4teaspoon clove or nutmeg to the sauce. If you prefer a sweeter dish, add 2 teaspoons sugar or sugar substitute such as stevia.