If you serve pasta-based dishes that feature chicken or fish, a velouté may be a sauce worth exploring. Veloutés are cheap to make, tasty and perfect matches for pasta. Start with a basic chicken stock — canned, concentrated or fresh — and simmer with a coarse-chopped mirepoix (equal portions of celery, carrots and onion, one pound total per gallon of stock). Let that reduce until a hearty flavor develops, and then thicken lightly with cornstarch mixed with a little cool water. Serve over pasta and fish, chicken and/or vegetables.
