Real Food Friday Feast - Grain-free cheese sauce

I love cheese! No... really... I am a cheese addict. If I don't have at least some every day, I feel cheated;) I love cheese in every way, shape or form. I even love that blue, stinky cheese that most people would turn their noses up at. It's been a real problem for me over the years seeing as I'm lactose intolerant. I would eat cheese and thoroughly enjoy it, but I'd feel terrible for days afterwards. Eventually I had to stop. It was horrible. I felt deprived.

And then I discovered goat's milk cheese!!! (Cue the angelic choirs;) It's not so easy to come by unless you're in the know. I made it my BUSINESS to be in the know. What's really helped is that Woolies have started stocking it. First prize for me is getting some goat's cheddar made from raw goat's milk at the organic market but, seeing as I'm an addict, I will be more than happy to settle for normal goat's cheese in a pinch;)

I've never been one to actually enjoy smothering my food in a cheese sauce. I prefer cheese in its natural state and I love vegetables so, to smother broccoli or cauliflower in a cheese sauce just seems like a waste of good cheese and vegetables to me. But GLM loves her broccoli and cheese sauce and I love having a happy wife so I made a plan;)

Now, most people would just pop to Pick n Pay and get a packet of Knorrs powdered cheese sauce...

That's what I have to say about THAT!

WHY would you NOT want to do that? Have you had a look at the ingredients of those things lately? Check these out:

Whey, Corn and/or wheat starch-modified, cheddar and blue cheese (made from pasteurized milk, salt, annatto extract, cheese culture, enzymes), partially hydrogenated soybean oil, salt, nonfat milk, natural and artificial flavors, lactic acid, disodium phosphate, msg, yellow 5, yellow 5 lake, yellow 6, Yellow 6 lake, silicon dioxide

Call that cheese sauce? I'd call it poison in a packet but maybe that's just me;) They will go out of their way, and add as much stuff as they want just to make it TASTE like cheese sauce, but it's not even close to the real deal.

If you've followed my blog at all, you know we're all about real food, made from scratch. As far as I'm concerned there really is no other way to eat. And once you start, it's so hard to go back to processed, made in a lab, food. Real food just tastes so good. The added bonus is that it's really good for you too.

Cheese sauce, when it's made right, is actually very nutritious as well as tasty. It can be high in calories BUT you can lower it substantially by using a grain-free flour, as I did. My other problem is that I'm gluten intolerant. My life can be complicated;)

So, to make my life easier, I devised my own grain-free cheese sauce recipe:) Mine uses goat's cheese but feel free to use cow's cheese. Just make sure it's a good cow's cheese. In other words, NO processed cheese at all. That stuff is so toxic you really don't want it in your body. It also tastes nothing like real cheese anyway so it'll just ruin your cheese sauce.

Grain-Free Cheese Sauce

2 Tbs butter
1 Tbs chickpea flour
salt & pepper
1 cup milk (use cow or goat's milk)
1-1/2 cups freshly shredded cheese (use cow or goat's cheese but cheddar seems to work the best)

Method

• Melt butter in a small pot over medium heat
• Add flour and whisk for one minute
• Slowly stir in milk still using the whisk
• Season with salt and pepper
• Change to a wooden spoon and keep stirring, keeping it on medium heat until it thickens (about 4-5 minutes) 
• Turn off heat and add cheese
• Stir until the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth
• Taste and add additional salt and pepper if necessary
• Serve straight away

If you like a really thick sauce, feel free to add a little more chickpea flour but do it slowly because chickpea flour is very absorbent and it can suck up all the liquid really quickly.

Have a wonderful weekend!