Bread Sauce

I found this in my Feeling Saucy cookbook and had it with deep fried chicken fingers. Needs a resting time of one hour.

• Ready In: 10 mins
• Serves: 6-8
• Yields: 3 cups

Ingredients

• 1  onion
• 12  whole cloves
• 1  bay leaf
• 6  black peppercorns
• 2 1⁄2 cups milk
• 2  cups  fresh white breadcrumbs
• 2  tablespoons butter
•  whole nutmeg, for grating
• 2  tablespoons heavy cream (optional)
•  salt and pepper

Directions

1. Make small holes in the onion using a skewer and stick the cloves in them.
2. Put the onion, bay leaf, and peppercorns in a pan. Pour in milk. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat, cover. Set aside for 1 hour.
3. To make the sauce, discard onion and bay leaf. Strain milk to remove peppercorns. Return to a clean pan and add breadcrumbs.
4. Cook over low heat 4-5 minutes until breadcrumbs have swollen and sauce is thick.
5. Beat in butter. Season well with salt and pepper and a good grating of nutmeg. Stir in cream just before serving, if you are using it.