beautiful bread sauce

method

It’s always worth making your own bread sauce – it’s so easy. Don’t think you can cheat and use a shop-bought one; it just won’t taste the same.

1) Peel the onion, leaving it whole, then spike it with the cloves.

2) Put the spiked onion into a medium saucepan with the bay leaves, milk and a few pinches of salt and pepper. Finely grate in a few scrapings of nutmeg.

3) Place the pan on a high heat and bring to the boil. Keep a close eye on it as milk comes to the boil very suddenly.

4) Reduce to a low heat and simmer very gently for 5 minutes to let the flavours infuse. Remove from the heat and leave to stand for 15 minutes. Meanwhile…

5) Cut the crusts off of the ciabatta loaves. Tear 1½ loaves into chunks and pulse them in a food processor until you have coarse breadcrumbs.

6) Strain the milk through a sieve into a jug, discarding everything left behind in the sieve.

7) Return the milk to the pan and bring back to the boil over a high heat.

8) Reduce to a medium heat and simmer, gradually stirring in the breadcrumbs until you’ve used them all up.

9) Add the butter and cream to the pan, stir well, then have a taste and season with a little more salt and pepper if needed.

10) Have a look at the sauce – you want it to be the perfect consistency for you. If it’s too runny, blitz the remaining ciabatta and add some more breadcrumbs, if it’s a little thick, add more milk.

11) If you’re making this for another day, you want the consistency to be a little looser than you’d like as it will thicken as it sits, so add a bit more milk. Otherwise, transfer to a jug and serve it now.

12) If you're making this for another day, when you’re happy with the consistency, spoon the bread sauce into a bowl and leave it to cool. Once cool, cover the bowl with cling film and place in the fridge until Christmas Day.

serves: 8

ingredients

• 1 onion
• 4 cloves
• 2 fresh bay leaves
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 whole nutmeg
• 700ml whole milk
• 2 loaves of ready-to-bake ciabatta
• 30g butter
• 4 tablespoons double cream

Equipment
• Chopping knife
• Chopping board
• Medium saucepan
• Fine grater
• Food processor
• Sieve
• Jug
• Wooden spoon
• Serving bowl
• Cling film