[vegan] onion + sage brown gravy

Rich and delicious gravy for all your gravy needs, plop this one on the table and no one will know (or care) that it’s vegan and gluten free, so don’t even bother mentioning it and giggle inside when people watch in horror as you ladle it all over your yummy noms and smother them in silky deliciousness. The key here is to use a dark vegetable broth, a no beef one is an excellent choice here, as well as mushroom or roasted vegetable. You want lots of umami, something rich, and something dark for the colour. This gravy is everything wonderful about french onion soup, in sauce form, and while a quart may seem like a lot, it will go quite quickly, i promise. (you could also just cut the recipe in half, or better yet, double it and use it on everything!)

onion + sage brown gravy

sj Rich and delicious gravy for all your gravy needs, plop this one on the table and no one will know (or care) that… 10 items or less [vegan] onion + sage brown gravy European make it paper

yield: 8-16 Prep Time: 5 minutes Cooking Time: 15 minutes 15 minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

rating 5.0/5

( 3 voted )

ingredients:

30g | ⅓ cup finely chopped shallot

200g | just over 1 cup finely chopped white or yellow onion (non-sweet)

700g/ml | 3 cups dark vegetable broth

240g/ml | 1 cups water

3g | 1 ½ tsp dry rubbed sage

.2g | ¼ tsp dry marjoram

.3g | ¼ tsp dry thyme

1g | ½ tsp fauxltry seasoning (or italian seasoning or poultry seasoning) 

5g/ml | 1 tsp chinese dark soy (or japanese dark soy, tamari, or coconut aminos)

1.5g/ml | ¼ tsp liquid smoke

2.5g/ml | ½ tsp balsamic vinegar

26g/30ml | 2 Tbsp oil (neutral flavour)

7.5g | 2 tsp mushroom granules/seasoning or dark bouillon

50g | ¼ cup + 2 Tbsp cornstarch*

directions:

Sautee onions and shallots in a 2qt saucepan over medium-high heat in oil until golden and browned on the edges

Meanwhile, combine ½ cup of your water with the cornstarch to make a slurry and set aside

Reduce heat to medium and add in a small amount of water and the vinegar to your pan to deglaze, then add remaining ingredients minus your slurry

Just as the mixture begins to simmer, quickly whisk/stir in your starch slurry and continue to stir until mixture return to a simmer, continue to cook for a full minute, while stirring, until thick

Serve immediately or keep on very low heat to maintain warmth  

notes:

*this makes for a nice thick gravy, if you prefer thinner, reduce the amount of starch (you can always add more later if it's too thin)

Ingredients are pretty straightforward, we have (again) a dark rich vegetable broth, some dark soy to bring in more umami, some toasty notes, and boost the colour, liquid smoke for a roasted sorta flavour (you can sub japanese dark soy or tamari, but you’ll miss the toasty notes and the colour won’t be quite as dark), and a touch of balsamic to really make the onions pop and add just a smidge of acid (it also helps to deglaze the pan so you don’t lose any of that delicious brown fond on the bottom.) We have onions (of course) and shallots to add some extra depth to the onions, you could use some extra onion and a tiny bit of garlic as well, but really the shallots work best. For our dry seasonings we have sage, along with some marjoram and fauxltry seasoning (NOT the fauxltry broth, just the seasoning) to help bring in a more balanced herbal note and some added depth, lastly we have some mushroom granules to bring in some added salt and umami richness. Corn starch is the thickener of choice here, it provides you with a silky body and is a tad better at reheating than some of the other starch options.

As a note about using starches in cooking, NEVER taste your dish and then use that spoon in your dish again, the enzymes present in your saliva can cause the starch to break down. Seriously. Even just the little bit remaining on a spoon can do that, so use a fresh spoon each time and don’t double dip (we keep a jar of spoons by the stove for this.)

You want to cook your onions and shallots well, they should be golden with browned edges (like the pic above) but you don’t want to caramelise them, that’s going too far and will give you a very different, sweeter gravy. Not what we’re necessarily looking for here. Once your onions are done, everything but your starch goes into the pan and brought to a simmer, THEN you add your starch slurry and whisk/stir away until it’s wonderfully thickened and translucent. Now, because this recipe uses starch alone and no flour, it’s a lighter bodied gravy, very silky and light on the tongue, which is good, the flavour is rich and intense and having a thick texture would just be a tad overkill and this is a thick gravy anyway (though you can adjust that to your preference)

And there we have it folks, wonderfully umami rich gravy with just a hint of sweetness, ready to grace your tables and delight your loved ones. Whether it’s ladled over mashers, dressing, your favorite roast, or maybe to make some tasty poutine or disco fries (it is the BEST gravy for these) it’s going to be one of your favorite choices, i assure you (unless you don’t like onions and deliciousness, in which case, back off buddy, back off.) Also, this recipe was literally made to go with the rosemary+garlic mashed potatoes, so make sure and give that duo a test drive, it’s a perfect combo.