Herby bread sauce

Every Christmas I wonder why we don’t have bread sauce at other times of the year.

If you’re a ‘forget-the-turkey-but-give-me-the-trimmings’ kind of person, then bread sauce should be in your top five, along with stuffing, chipolatas, bacon rolls and, of course, cranberry sauce.

Freshly made bread sauce has to be one of the easiest ways to create a bit of Christmassey home comfort. Here’s how …

Homemade bread sauce

Start by peeling an onion, leave it whole and stud it with cloves.

Put this into a pan, add a bay leaf and pour over 3/4 pint of milk. Gently bring to the boil, then switch off the heat, cover and leave to infuse for anything from ten minutes to an hour, no rush.

When you’re ready. Take out the onion and bay leaf and add breadcrumbs to the milk and a good knob of butter. You can also add a tablespoon or so of cream if you choose.

Heat again very gently, stirring well while the butter melts and all melds together beautifully, then transfer into a serving bowl. Can be served hot or cold.

Ingredients list:

1 onion

A small handful of cloves

A bay leaf

3/4 pint of milk

75g (3oz) bread crumbs, finer the better

a knob of butter (about 12g or 1/2 oz)

1 or 2 tbsp cream (optional)

Onion cloute

Studding an onion with cloves (with or without a bayleaf) is known in culinary terms as an onion cloute. It’s a classic way to add flavour to a sauce. Cloute is french for spiked. You might also find it referred to as onion pique. It’s how to add flavour while cooking, while still being easy to remove from the final dish.