Sean’s Christmas Veggie Gravy

Ex-chef turned Marketing Manager, Sean, is back again with another staple recipe for your pesky vegetarian guests this year!

Ingredients

• one large white onion
• 2–3 cloves of garlic
• 100g butter (or 50ml olive oil)
• few sprigs of thyme
• bay leaf (dried is fine)
• tablespoon of tomato paste
• tablespoon of onion chutney
• tablespoon of cranberry sauce
• tablespoon of flour (or cornflour)
• 750ml of mushroom (or vegetable) stock
• 250ml of red wine

Method

• Slice/chop/dice a large white onion and get it sweating in a wide saucepan along with a big knob of butter (or a few tablespoons of olive oil for vegans) on a low heat, and stir frequently.
• After 15 mins, grate or crush a couple cloves of garlic into your sweating onions, along with a teaspoon of salt, a few sprigs of thyme and a bay leaf — the salt will help prevent your onion and garlic from burning too quickly! Let this mixture cook down for another 5–10 mins. Don’t rush this…
• Your onions and garlic should now be a nice golden brown. It’s now time to pour in a large glass of red wine — something full bodied and fruity! Cook this down to half it’s volume or to a syrup consistency.
• Now it’s time to add your thickener. You can use plain flour or corn flour for the gluten-intolerant amongst us. One tablespoon should be plenty, but if you’re trying to make a lot, or a particularly thick gravy… well, add some more then! Stir your flour with a bit of water before pouring into the pan — you can also whisk the mixture later if you want to get rid of any lumps!
• Now start adding your stock — I recommend a mushroom stock, but any veggie one will do! Start with 500ml and have a bit extra handy if you need to loosen it up! Stir and cook for another 5–10 mins.
• Next, dollop in a heaped tablespoon of tomato paste, onion chutney and cranberry sauce. Stir until combined. If you’re feeling generous, throw in another big dollop of butter. Then salt and pepper to your liking… you may not need much if you used pre-made stock.
• At this point, I would cook it down to my desired consistency (just coating the back of a wooden spoon) and strain the mixture through a sieve into my gravy boat. But if you like a rustic gravy, you can keep all the bits in and simply remove the thyme and bay before serving.

Enjoy!