Hi Karen,

Sorry to bother you again. I would like to make bechamel sauce for my lasagna but the recipe said to start with melting butter in saucepan and stir in all-purpose flour!!!! Is it to thicken the sauce??? Can i use atkin bakemix instead?

Thanks,

I'm not Karen, but I can tell you this, there are plenty of fabulous recipes without bechamel (a type of White Sauce). And many of those recipes are right here in the Kitchen Forum, Main Dishes section http://forum.lowcarber.org/forumdisplay.php?f=39

Me, if I ran into a lasagna recipe I wanted to use, I'd ditch completely the bechamel sauce (usually used in Greek cooking not so much Italian cooking anyway) and use ricotta cheese, about the same amount as the sauce called for. MUCH tastier.

I suspect somebody somewhere starting using the bechamel sauce because that way there's less fat (from cream or ricotta cheese) in the recipe....what a waste.

The use of bechamel in Lasagne Bolognese (from Bologna, in Italy, not Greece) goes back many years before the term 'lowfat' even existed.

I made a bechamel last week for a souffle--I used a tablespoon of vital wheat gluten, and heavy cream in place of the milk. It was thick and delicious. I think the vital wheat gluten worked pretty well as a roux base.

I would opt for the ricotta as Judi suggested. Mix 2 cups with an egg, 1/2 cup of Parmesan, and nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste.

You can also thicken cream by using xanthan gum. Here's a thread on thickeners.

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...ghlight=xanthan

Karen