HOW TO...GRAVY, make/freeze ahead, healthier, dairy-free option,

Christmas dinner is not dinner without excellent gravy

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67 relies on two gravies for Christmas dinner.  Both are rich, creamy without dairy and muscular in flavour.  Best of all, both can be made right now - or any time up Christmas - frozen and reheated for the Big Day.  

Both are easily prepared, and though one takes longer than the other, it's really really worth it.    

The first is 67's popular super-healthy vegan gravy which looks and tastes so much like meat gravy, carnivores like it.  It goes double duty, which means cook doesn't have to make two gravies and prevents sulks between opposing food camps.    

The other, from Jaimie Oliver, is gloriously and unashamedly carnivore.  Again, no apologies; the gravy is out-of-the world delicious.  It is also rich with hidden vegetables, which adds an ultra-healthy layer of goodness.

For a third, calorie conscious option, see tips below


1.  Vegetarian/vegan gravy

This lovely gravy, adapted from The Vegetarian Feast by Martha Rose Shulman (sadly out of print), is surprisingly tasty.  

No insipid, uninspiring gravy, this.  This gravy is richly flavoured, silky textured and healthier than meat gravies.  Some say adding mushrooms enriches the flavour and texture but others are happy without. 

Carnivores like it as it is and love it once fat-free turkey juices are added, transforming it into a voluptuous meat gravy,    

Cost: 50 pence, if that
Makes: 2 cups/half a litre

Ingred:

   3 tbsp sunflower oil

    1/2 med onion grated (medium or coarse on box)

    (for mushroom gravy: couple of generous handfuls sliced mushrooms)

    3 tbsp flour (67 used spelt but wheat is fine) 

    2 cups/400ml vegetable stock; you need good stock for this so if not home-made then good granules

   1/4 tsp rosemary

   1/4 tsp thyme

   

   small bay leaf

   garlic clove

   slice raw ginger

   1-2 tbsp reduced-(not low)-salt soy (depending on blood pressure and taste.  67 uses Amoy or Pearl River Bridge) 

   4-8 dashes Worcestershire Sauce (opt)   

   1/4 tsp pepper

Method:

1. Heat oil in a non-stick saucepan on med high  
2. Add onions, stir for a few minutes without browning 
3. (If using mushrooms, add here, cook until juices run & begin to disappear)
4. Add flour, stir; turn heat up a bit; cook, stirring, until it begins to smell toasty and turn brown (a few mins)
5. Take pan off heat; gradually add stock, whisking/stirring continuously until the gravy is smooth 
6. Return pan to stove; bring to the boil;  add rosemary, thyme  bay leaf, garlic & ginger.
7. Simmer on low heat for 10 mins.  
8. The gravy should be the thickness of double cream.  If too thick, add a little more stock or water.  If too thin, add 1 tsp cornflour or rice flour mixed with one tbsp cold water and stir till thickened.
9. Add soy sauce and pepper, Worcestershire sauce; remove bay leaf, garlic & ginger  
10. Keep warm if serving immediately or cool completely overnight in the fridge and freeze in an airtight container.
11. Defrost overnight in the fridge; heat gently, check seasoning.  Thicken or thin as necessary (step 8)
12. If serving separate gravy for carnivores, divide accordingly.  Whisk in meat  juices (without fat).  Serve in a tureen or bowl easily differentiated from the vegan gravy.  

2.  Jaimie Oliver's Super Gravy (with 67's modifications)

Super-yum.  Thank you Jaimie.

Ingreds

  2 med onions, peeled

  2 med carrots, washed 

  2 sticks celery

  (the above roughly chopped)

  2 bay leaves

  2 sprigs fresh, or 1/8-1/4 tsp sage

  2 sprigs fresh, or 1/8-1/4 tsp rosemary

  2 star anise or 1/2 tsp 5-spice powder(opt)

  10 chicken wings, pref free-range

  olive oil

  60 ml/1/4 cup sherry or port (opt)

   4 tbsp plain flour

   2 litres boiling water

   2 tbsp cranberry sauce (opt)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180c/350f/gas4
2. Place vegetables and seasoning in a high sided sturdy roasting tin
3. Layer chicken wings on top, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper.  Bake one hour or until wings are tender
4. Cool slightly; separate chicken wings into drums & winglet; return to pan
5. Place tin over low heat; mash everything together with a potato basher; the vegetables should be like pulp; the wing flesh loosened from the bones
6. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up the bits from the bottom while continuing to cook for a few minutes; add sherry/port if using
7. Sprinkle flour over, mix well; add 2 litres  boiling water; simmer 30 mins stirring occasionally, further loosening the wing flesh, until thick & reduced
8. Pour through a coarse strainer, mashing the contents with the back of a spoon (Remove bones from what's left behind and add to soup stock)
9. Cool one hour; rest overnight in fridge.  
10. Remove any fat which has come to the surface, package up (there will be enough for more than one meal); freeze
11. When needed, defrost overnight in the bottom of the fridge
12. Gently heat in a large pan; add juices (no fat) from the turkey

3.  Turkey Juices - the healthiest version of meat gravy

1. Pour off fat from the pan in which the turkey was cooked
2. Pour the rest through a strainer into a pot
3. Keep warm until ready to serve

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These recipes has been adapted and developed by B  Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises and may not be reproduced, in any form, without the author's written permission.