When you say a sauce is a Béchamel, it conjures up a fancy something-or-other. This sauce is anything BUT fancy. It’s a simple butter-flour-milk gravy with the only added ingredient being some tomato paste. Claude Monet called it a Tomato Sauce, but I’ve re-named it.
When I went to my account at Eat Your Books, I put in “tomato sauce” and began perusing through the dozens and dozens of them from all my cookbooks – looking first at the list of ingredients. There’s no quantity, just the major items named. I looked at Italian style sauces mostly, since I wanted to put something on the eggplant rollatini you see above. After I’d studied about 20 or so (with the usual list of ingredients like onion, garlic, fresh or canned tomatoes, basil, parsley) this one stuck out because of its lack of canned tomatoes and because of the milk. A plain tomato sauce from canned tomatoes just sounded so blah to me – or something that might easily overwhelm the subtle cheeses in the rollatini.
You didn’t ask for a history lesson about Claude Monet, but you’re going to have one anyway, since he was quite a foodie. Years ago I purchased the book Monet’s Table : The Cooking Journals of Claude Monet
Monet was always interested in food – and even when he and his first wife Camille (who died very young, soon after their 2nd child was born) were nearly destitute and living in a hovel in Paris, they would not only have food, but they’d share it with others – mostly other starving artists like he was. He didn’t become famous until some years later – after his wife had died. He caused a huge stir by painting Camille on her deathbed – not when she was alive, but once she had passed. He was inordinately proud of that painting. That kind of thing simply wasn’t done back then. He kept the painting nearby for the remainder of his life, even after he remarried. Once a few of his paintings sold he was finally able to buy a home, first in Paris, then later outside Paris and he spent nearly all of his remaining years at Giverny. Monet didn’t cook at all – or nearly so – but he was passionate about food, which is why there are recipes attributed to him. Maintaining a nice home with servants was just part of his history – if you were a gentleman in that time, you just did. Once he established himself at Giverny he had enough wealth to have servants. He made most of the decisions in the family about what they would eat and when. The Cookery Notebooks book is filled with recipes, and more stories about the entertaining style. Monet was well-traveled and he fell in love with food in many places he visited. Likely he served dishes that were sometimes unfashionable only because they were not French or even known to most French.
Being a fan of the Impressionists in general, I have always liked Monet’s paintings. Dave and I have sought out his paintings in museums around the world – in addition to most of the other Impressionists too. The most notable was a small room at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia, where they house 43 Renoirs. We were on a tour of the museum and the guide, a very dour young woman, gave us 20 minutes to see the entire room. Most of us were very unhappy about that! But they would not allow us to linger longer than that.
For many years I had this van Gogh painting hanging in my house. A very, VERY cheap copy of it. It was the only picture in my daughter’s bedroom when she was a baby. There weren’t many baby-oriented wall decorations back then, and I used it because of the yellow color scheme I did in her bedroom.
So now, let’s get back to this tomato sauce, huh? There was nothing to it – making it – I melted some unsalted butter, added some flour, stirred and cooked that for a minute or two, then poured in whole milk that I’d heated just to boiling. The sauce thickened almost immediately. I seasoned it with salt and pepper, then added some tomato paste out of the tube I have in the refrigerator. I did this half an hour before I was going to plate our dinner, so all I had to do was re-heat it on the range and add some chopped up tomato. The fresh tomato in and on top was not in Monet’s recipe, but I really did think it needed a little spark of color. I had some vine-ripened tomatoes which worked perfectly.
What’s GOOD: it was very easy to make. This sauce isn’t a sauce for pasta – it doesn’t have enough heft, in my opinion, but was perfect for the nuanced eggplant. It would be nice on cooked vegetables, on fish. You could put some cheese in it – like Gruyere or Parm and give it some different flavors. It wasn’t anything extra special, but it fit my need perfectly.
What’s NOT: no problems or dislikes.
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Monet’s Tomato Sauce (Milk Gravy)
Recipe By: Adapted slightly from Monet’s Cookery Notebooks by Claire Joyes
Serving Size: 6
4 ounces unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk — whole, heated to just below boiling
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons tomato puree — or tomato paste
3 tablespoons fresh tomatoes — finely diced [not in original recipe]
1. Place the butter and flour in a saucepan and stir them into a smooth paste over low heat.
2. Remove from the heat and gradually add the hot milk, stirring constantly to prevent lumps from forming. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Return the pan to the heat and continue to cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the liquid boils. Stir in tomato puree and serve immediately.
Per Serving: 198 Calories; 18g Fat (80.6% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 7g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 52mg Cholesterol; 152mg Sodium.
Toffeeapple
said on April 7th, 2013:
Hello Carolyn,
I thought I should let you know that the painting of the sunflowers is by Vincent van Gogh, it has his signature on the vase, mid-left. No need to post this comment.
I hope you are well? I just looked at your picture on ‘about’ you both look so well.
Best regards,
Toni. xx
Hi T-A – nice to hear from you. I was reading somebody else’s blog and saw a comment from you, so I knew you were alive and well! And thank you for saving my bacon with the Monet-vanGogh mixup. I should have known it wasn’t Monet’s picture, but it popped up in an image search for Monet’s paintings and I gave it no thought except – oh yes, that’s the picture I used to own. Must be Monet’s. Thank you very much. I fixed it. . . carolyn t