How do I make a flavourful vegetarian gravy that is acceptable to my family, to serve with both roast meat and a vegetarian option? They all seem to rely on dried mushrooms and alcohol for flavour, both of which are unpopular with the children.
Jennifer, Blackpool
Good gravy is so much more than an accompaniment; it’s the backbone of any roast dinner, holding together all the different elements on the plate, whether that’s meat or a veggie offering, alongside all the usual suspects – potatoes! Yorkshires! Carrots! “Great gravy, vegetarian or otherwise, is all about the quality of the stock,” says Sarah Wasserman, director of food at plant-based Mildreds in London. “Homemade is best, and you can store vegetable offcuts in the freezer until you have a nice full bag for making stock.”
Wasserman favours a dark stock, which she achieves by roasting onions, carrots, mushrooms (sorry, kids), tomatoes, leeks and the like, until sweet and caramelised. “Use the whole vegetable,” she says. “Onion skins, for example, are especially good for adding colour.” You’ll want herbs such as rosemary and sage in there, too, for a “nice base note”. Then, once the roast veg are at collapsing point, fry them in a deep saucepan, cover with water and boil “until the liquid is deeply coloured”.
The good news for Jennifer and her quest to satisfy the whole family is that you don’t necessarily need to harness dried mushrooms, such as porcini, to get a flavourful gravy, but you will need to add umami in some shape or form. Wasserman suggests turning to red miso, dark soy sauce or Marmite to get the required colour and depth of flavour, while also keeping the children on side. “A good-quality, rich red wine or port reduced to a whisper will give colour, sweetness, a hint of acidity and a generous splash of luxury,” she adds, though, being someone who rarely drinks, she admits that she, too, can find the taste overpowering, “especially if the alcohol isn’t cooked out as it should be”. Instead, for a more subtle sweetness and acidity, she suggests using good-quality organic apple juice; failing that, she says, vinegars such as balsamic or sherry will also do the trick, or stir in some redcurrant jelly, any leftover cranberry sauce that’s knocking about or, as Jamie Oliver does in his Christmas Cookbook, blackcurrant jam and tomato puree (plus red-wine vinegar).
You could even make your gravy all about the onions, as Richard Makin, AKA School Night Vegan, does by frying a roughly chopped white one in butter until it’s beginning to brown. In go some garlic and bay leaves, followed by flour and stock, then, once that’s all thickened, he adds soy sauce and seasons, before straining; Queen Delia Smith goes a step further and adds a splash of Worcestershire sauce, though you’ll need to check it’s a no-anchovy version for the vegetarian contingent.
Alison Roman, on the other hand, relies on brown butter and a dark roux for “complex flavour”, before whisking in stock and simmering with bay leaves, thyme, sherry vinegar, soy sauce and some seasoning. “The soy and vinegar aren’t detectable as singular ingredients, but they fortify the saltiness and provide a smack of tanginess,” she writes. Which is just yet more proof that brown butter makes everything better. No arguments.
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