- half an onion, or 2/3 shallots
- 1 garlic clove
- 400ml milk
- 10 cloves
- a good pinch of ground cinnamon
- a decent knob of butter
- two fists' worth of stale bread, well chopped.
- a trickle of double cream. to finish
- Peel and chop the onion and garlic. If you have a blender then a rough chop will do - if not, then finely dice.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan. Sweat the onion and garlic with the spices for 5-7 minutes, adding more butter if necessary. The onion can go slightly golden around the edges, but don't let the heat darken it too much.
- Once the onion is soft, pour in the milk and stir well. The cloves will float to the top - fish them out with a spoon.
- Cut or tear the bread into roughly sweetcorn-sized bits. Stir into the milk and season.
- Heat and stir the sauce until it gets slightly thicker than you like. Finish it with a splash of double cream and some of the cooking juices from the meat, if you're roasting something.