Hi there Food Tubers, I really hope the festive season is shaping up well for you
When it comes to planning that big feast on the day itself
One thing that's always crucial to a successful outcome
Is a really top notch gravy
If you're vegetarian or vegan, that isn't always straight forward
here is a recipe for a vegan gravy, that's absolutely heaving with flavour
But it also goes brilliantly with roast turkey, goose or any other meaty center piece
It's all about building up flavours and making sure that your gravy has that savory edge... and for me
a key way to do that, if to get some mushrooms in good and early
and I've got these lovely brown cap chestnut mushrooms
They've got a particularly deep flavour. So i'm just going to slice them...
and then chop them fairly rough
my pans already hot. You need to use an oil that's stable at a high temperature
so rapeseed oil is good
Handful of my chopped mushrooms going in
and I'm getting a nice sizzle right from the off
Right now I'm letting the mushrooms get quite close to burning, without even giving them their first stir.
While that's happening I'll get my onion ready
Fairly chunky pieces, I don't want a finely chopped onion because that'll let out too much juice
and it'll sweat rather than brown
I can smell the depth of flavour coming off those mushrooms
Time to give them their first stir
As they cook of course they reduce in size, leaving room for the next ingredient... and that's my onions.
Now it's important not to overcrowd the pan, that's why the ingredients are going in one at a time.
Mushrooms in, brown reduce
Onions in... brown reduce
Then the carrots. Two medium carrots will do you, but I've got
one monster here. I reckon that should be enough
Plenty of surface area for the browning
So, cut them in half and then on the diagonal.
and look at that we've got colour on the onions... colour on the bottom of the pan
Time to get those carrots in
because the onions of course will continue to colour
even as the carrots do their thing
As well as the veg, I want some nice aromatic herbs in my gravy
Some nice twiggy bits of time, couple of bay leaves
Just before the stock goes in, a little sprinkling of flour
That's gonna thicken the gravy nicely. I don't want it gloopy
But just a dusting of flour, will help emulsify it... and give it that silky consistancy
and just cook that flour out for half a minute or so
I've got my own home-made veg stock here
but there's already enough flavour going on in this pan but you could get away with plain water.
Or you can make up stock from a good cube
Stir that around now... so it loosens... comes in... to colour our gravy
There's one more classic stock veg that's going in. I didn't brown it with the rest of the veg, because I didn't want to crowd out the pan
Celeery is so high in water that it doesn't brown very well anyway
and drop it in
That needs to simmer away for a good six or seven minutes now
Just enough to tenderise those vegetables and extract all their best flavour
The veg looks pretty tender, there's a lovely
dark colour to the gravy. What I want to do is just develop the bitter notes a little bit
the same kind that you get from the burnt meat on the bottom of your roasting tin
and there's a really good trick for doing that, a little slosh of black coffee... not too much!
A couple of tablespoons perhaps... it still needs a little salt
It's coming in the form of a good tamari soy sauce
Which again will help to round out those flavours
and I just want to get the absolute out of my veg
I'm just gonna crush everything with a potato masher, just to make sure all of those flavours are maximized
Finally of course... a little bit of salt a little bit of pepper... final stir
All this wonderful gravy needs is to be strained
So much goodness, so much flavour, let's not waste anything... let's just press it
and crush it. We want it silky smooth
So it's going through a siv, but let's make sure we push all the goodness through
Last few drops
Wow
This is dark, enticing... but here's the real test
Yeah and as tasty as any meaty gravy you could ever wish for
So now that we have our deliciously, dark rich vegan gravy, How are we going to use it?
Well there's all sorts of ways and in fact at this festive time of year
Food Tube is positively buzzing with things that could do with a little splosh of this on them
Wherever something dark and saucy is called for, this gravy comes to the rescue
I'm having mine with some delicious bubble and squeak cakes
and here's a lovely accompaniment
my sesame roast carrots
which you'll also find here as part of our festive Food Tube special
So Food Tubers, give my vegan gravy a whirl and let me know what you think
You can give us a thumbs up... you can leave your comments somewhere down here
and of course, you can subscribe to the River Cottage Food Tube channel
What better Christmas present to your lovely self
except maybe a plate of this...