Coconut Oil Bechamel - Oh La La

[8Track]

Apologies to anyone with French cuisine training or heritage. I have committed a culinary faux pas.

A while ago at the start of Lockdown, I had masses of milk to use up so made some sauces to freeze. No butter, so I used coconut oil instead as I thought it had a fairly neutral flavour. Cheese sauce is fab, mustard, used up loads of random old cheese hunks. Great, got cocky....and made a bechamel...

I can smell the coconut even when its frozen!!

How on earth can I use this?! I absolutely cannot waste it.

I'm wondering if a sort of Amok curry that would normally use coconut cream might work? Or as a base for an Indian curry. I've heaps of spices, herbs -clearly not talent- so does anyone have any ideas to rescue my sauce?!

I'm not sure you can..

Coconut is a very strong taste.

Please don’t put it in a curry. You’d just be wasting more ingredients.

I wonder if you could sweeten it and use it as a base for a dessert?

I fell for the 'coconut oil on toast is a delicious healthy choice' bollocks.

It was not.

what about some sort of souffle?? whisk up egg whites, drop the yolks into the bechamel to enrich it, fold some sugar into the sauce and some melted chocolate, fold it all together and you have a chocolate coconut type pudding.

maybe just do one egg....and give it a whirl first, it'd be a crime to waste chocolate too!

Ooh going for a dessert - now that's a good idea!!

I'm so embarrassed. I too fell for the, it doesn't taste of much, line. I like the flavour - but not in fucking bechamel sauce, which should be creamy and buttery and delicious!! I do like coconut oil in coffee, maybe a I could do a coffee and dark choc mousse....

Yeah a dessert may work. Coconut oil on toast was like coconut flavoured vaseline.

On toast.

It was vile.

It MIGHT work in a Thai curry, but I wouldn't want to risk wasting the other ingredients.

However, if you've got some veg that needs using & other Thai stuff, you've got little to lose.

Maybe a Thai chicken or veg soup? Water the sauce down, add Thai curry paste that you’ve fried with some veg or chicken?

I’m assuming you haven’t seasoned it if you’re heading for a desert??!

If the cheese sauce made with coconut oil is fine I'd be tempted to just turn the bechamel into a cheese sauce.
You'll have loads of cheese sauce to use up but at least you know it'll work.

As per PP I would just add cheese to make more cheese sauce!

It's hideous stuff. I used it for a roasted cauliflower recipe and it almost made me retch.

Thai curry should work. My cheat's thai curry is a bunch of veg sauteed in oil over high heat, then add couple of spoons bottled green curry paste, fry another minute or so, add a whole can of coconut milk, cook till simmering, add water if needed to get the right consistency. I think instead of the coconut milk you could add your bechamel, and adjust consistency at the end with water or coconut milk.

Leeks are good with both white sauce and coconut, so something leeky could work? I wouldn't use it in a curry, the flour would make it behave quite differently from a tin of coconut I'd have thought!
A sweet soufflé sounds like winner to me!