The magnificent microwave book, 159pp.
edited by Ellen Argyriou
Polly Book Publishing, Balmain NSW Australia, 1987
Cooking on page 32
My microwave is used mostly to melt butter and chocolate, reheat leftovers and coffee, and warm lemons and limes to extract maximum juice.
Because I use this appliance so rarely, I’ve never felt the need to purchase relevant cookbooks. In fact, I’m pretty sure this book belonged to my mother-in-law.
All recipes in this book were tested in Toshiba microwave ovens. Page 32 has a collection of tips for making appetisers and three recipes—based on pumpkin, almonds and blue cheese. I made the last one.
Blue cheese sauce
Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
salt, pepper
2 cups milk
75g blue vein cheese grated
Method
Place butter in a large glass measuring jug and cook on power level 9 (High) for 45 seconds until melted. Stir in the flour till smooth then add a little milk and stir till a smooth paste. Add remaining milk gradually, stirring until free of lumps. Cook for 4–5 minutes stirring every minute. Remove from oven and stir in the grated cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.
How it played out
Eye fillet steaks were on special so I bought a packet of four. These smallish steaks are a top-of-the-line cut in Australia and known as beef tenderloins in the USA. Often costing more than $40 a kilo, they’re deserving of an accompanying sauce—something classy.
So I made half a batch of this according to the instructions, except that my blue cheese was too soft to grate, so I cut it into small pieces, which worked just fine.
Verdict
A delicious and easy-to-make sauce that went very well with the steaks as well as the wedges I served on the side. The blue cheese flavour is not overpowering, so the sauce can be enjoyed by those who don’t love blue cheese straight.
Even though I made half a batch, there were quite a lot of leftovers. Off to the market to see what’s on special. I reckon the sauce is versatile enough that it could compliment most meats and vegetables.
Travel
If you love markets as much as I do, check out some of the treats I found in Toronto’s St Lawrence Market. A few years back, National Geographic named it the world’s best food market.
What's cooking on page 32 
It’s the one thing I do do in my microwave: make a white sauce and then embellish it with whatever it needs embellishing with, otherwise, like you, not much else. The only microwave recipe book I had, was a gift and I’ve subsequently passed it on.
As I started to read your post, I saw “blue vein cheese grated” and thought, “How?” Only bad blue cheese can be grated.
BTW, use this sauce when I do stuffed mushrooms – just a suggestion. http://fionasfavourites.com/2015/09/07/mushrooms-stuffed/
My thoughts exactly. Grated blue vein cheese—how?
Thanks for the link. It’s a great idea.
I mainly buy Wish Bone Blue Cheese in a bottle… (it is one of the few dressings that is not sweet) and for my mixed leaf salads. I might get to this Blue Cheese recipe in the future….
However, I had to write about my microwave and I get a lot of use out of it;
a) Oatmeal in the morning; put oatmeal in a very big bowl (the oatmeal rises when cooking) , add water, power level at 7 and cook time 3 minutes.. then add margarine/butter, half and half cream, etc.
b) Making hot tea; use a microwave proof cup (1 1/2 cup size), add water and a tea bag… cooking time about 2 minutes… voila, hot tea (after removing the tea bag). I know people from the UK, Japan, will cringe on making tea this way. BTW, be careful the boiled water does not explode, higher altitudes), keep cooking time to a minimum.
c) Vegetables- Similar to steaming, put in a bowl (green beans or broccoli or cauliflower…) , add some water, salt… plastic wrap over bowl… cook for 3 minutes…. see if they are aldenti (sp) , done. This way it retains all the vitamins.
d) Defrosting foods- Use the quick button to defrost meat, chicken, etc… including frozen bacon,
already cooked frozen hamburgers (2 minutes), soup stock….
e) And best of all left over foods- place on a plate the left over foods, put plastic wrap over the plate or a plastic cover designed for microwave use.. cook about 2-3 minutes.. (Yesterday, i used this method for curry chicken, spinach, mushrooms, rice).
Sy, you are always the voice of reason. Clearly I should try to make more use of my microwave.
I like the simplicity of this sauce. It looks delicious.
It was perfect on both the steak and the potatoes.
Has anyone ever tried the leek and potato bake and use sour cream instead of just milk? The combination with using tuna ( tinned) as well as the sour cream last week, received a standing ovation from my grand-kids.
What a great idea.