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
straightforward so here is a recipe for
a vegan gravy
that’s absolutely heaving with flavor
but it also goes brilliantly with roast
turkey goose or any other meaty
centerpiece it’s all about building up
flavors and making sure that your gravy
has that savory edge and for me a key
way to do that is to get some mushrooms
in good and early and I’ve got these
lovely brown cap chestnut mushrooms
they’ve got a particularly deep flavor
I’m just going to slice them and then
chop them fairly rough my pan is 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 then 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 the
onion ready fairly chunky pieces I don’t
want to finely chopped onion cuz that
will let out too much juice and it’ll
sweat rather than brown now I can smell
the depth of flavor coming off those
mushrooms time to give them their first
step 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 round reduce then the carrots
and two medium carrots will do you but
I’ve got one monster here and I reckon
that should be enough plenty of surface
area for the browning so cut him in half
then on the diagonal and look at that
we’ve got color on the onions color on
the bottom of the pan trying to get
those carrots in because the onions of
course will continue to color
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 thyme a couple of bay
leaves just before the stock goes in a
little sprinkling of flour that’s going
to 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 consistency and just cook that
flour out for half a minute or so I’ve
got my own homemade veg stock here but
there’s already enough flavor going on
in this pan that you could get away with
plain water or you can make up stock
from a good cube and stir that around
now so it loosens it comes in to color
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 and
celery is so high in water that isn’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
tenderize those vegetables and extract
all their best flavor the veg looks
pretty tender there’s a lovely dark
color 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 and that’s coming in the
form of a good tamari soy sauce which
again will help to round out those
flavors I just want to get the absolute
best out of my veg so I’m just going to
crush everything with the potato masher
just make sure all those flavors are
maximized finally of course a little bit
of salt a little bit of pepper final
stir and all this wonderful gravy needs
is to be strained
so much goodness so much flavor let’s
not waste anything let’s just press it
and crush it we want it silky smooth so
it’s going through a sieve but let’s
make sure we push all the goodness
through last few drops Wow it’s as 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
foodtube is positively buzzing with
things that could do with a little
splash 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 but you’d 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
comment 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
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
straightforward so here is a recipe for
a vegan gravy
that’s absolutely heaving with flavor
but it also goes brilliantly with roast
turkey goose or any other meaty
centerpiece it’s all about building up
flavors and making sure that your gravy
has that savory edge and for me a key
way to do that is to get some mushrooms
in good and early and I’ve got these
lovely brown cap chestnut mushrooms
they’ve got a particularly deep flavor
I’m just going to slice them and then
chop them fairly rough my pan is 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 then 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 the
onion ready fairly chunky pieces I don’t
want to finely chopped onion cuz that
will let out too much juice and it’ll
sweat rather than brown now I can smell
the depth of flavor coming off those
mushrooms time to give them their first
step 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 round reduce then the carrots
and two medium carrots will do you but
I’ve got one monster here and I reckon
that should be enough plenty of surface
area for the browning so cut him in half
then on the diagonal and look at that
we’ve got color on the onions color on
the bottom of the pan trying to get
those carrots in because the onions of
course will continue to color
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 thyme a couple of bay
leaves just before the stock goes in a
little sprinkling of flour that’s going
to 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 consistency and just cook that
flour out for half a minute or so I’ve
got my own homemade veg stock here but
there’s already enough flavor going on
in this pan that you could get away with
plain water or you can make up stock
from a good cube and stir that around
now so it loosens it comes in to color
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 and
celery is so high in water that isn’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
tenderize those vegetables and extract
all their best flavor the veg looks
pretty tender there’s a lovely dark
color 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 and that’s coming in the
form of a good tamari soy sauce which
again will help to round out those
flavors I just want to get the absolute
best out of my veg so I’m just going to
crush everything with the potato masher
just make sure all those flavors are
maximized finally of course a little bit
of salt a little bit of pepper final
stir and all this wonderful gravy needs
is to be strained
so much goodness so much flavor let’s
not waste anything let’s just press it
and crush it we want it silky smooth so
it’s going through a sieve but let’s
make sure we push all the goodness
through last few drops Wow it’s as 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
foodtube is positively buzzing with
things that could do with a little
splash 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 but you’d 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
comment 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
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