Grilled sweet Italian sausages in "Aurora sauce"

Some meals just come together in a way that makes you swoon. It helps if, at dinnertime, you happen to have a pan sitting on your stove which still holds a film of bacon fat from the morning's breakfast bacon. Postponing doing the dishes has its advantages.

First, grill about 2 pounds of prepared sweet Italian turkey sausages (10 sausages) in the pan with the bacon fat. When they are done, you will cut them in half and add them to this fabulous sauce, called for some reason "Aurora Sauce" in the quaint and not-so-old cookbook, Of Tide & Thyme, which has gone through nine printings, as of 2003, since its release in 1995 by the Junior League of Annapolis, Maryland.  

Aurora Sauce

3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp flour (use rice flour and the dish will be gluten-free)
1/2 cup white wine
3 cups milk
a few sprigs parsely and a few leaves basil, snipped
a few sprigs fresh thyme
1 can diced tomatoes (or fresh, if in season)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I omitted this -- it seemed unnecessary)
1 large clove diced garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan, and then add the flour and mix to form a bubbling roux. Add the wine and milk and stir and cook until thickened. Then add the herbs, the tomatoes, the cheese if you are using it, and the garlic, salt, and pepper. Simmer everything together for about 20 minutes.

Plop in the halved, cooked sausages, make it all piping hot again if need be, and serve with pasta. Swoon.