All-Purpose Gravy

Submitted by Soup Fly

"An America's Test Kitchen recipe that I received in an email. What's great about it is that it can be made ahead and frozen (a great holiday time saver!) since it doesn't use any pan drippings."

 

• Ready In: 42mins
• Ingredients: 12
• Yields: 2 cups

ingredients

• 1⁄2 cup carrot, peeled & chopped
• 1⁄2 cup celery, chopped
• 3⁄4 cup onion, chopped
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1⁄4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups low sodium beef broth
• 1 bay leaf
• 1⁄4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 5 whole black peppercorns
• salt
• ground black pepper

directions

1. Heat butter in large saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Add vegetables and cook, stirring frequently, until softened and well-browned (about 7 minutes).
3. Reduce heat to medium.
4. Add flour, stirring constantly, until well-browned (about 5 minutes).
5. Gradually add broths while whisking constantly.
6. Bring mixture to boil and skimming off any foam on surface.
7. Reduce heat to medium-low and add bay leaf, thyme, and peppercorns.
8. Simmer, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes until thickened and reduced to 3 cups.
9. Strain gravy through fine-mesh strainer.
10. Press on solids to extract as much liquid as possible.
11. Add salt & pepper to taste.
12. To thaw frozen gravy:.
13. Add gravy to pan with 1 tablespoon of water and warm on low heat until thawed.
14. Gravy may appear to have separated.
15. Whisk vigorously to recombine.

Reviews

[Chef pkellymc]

I have made this twice; the first time was of necessity when I made Christmas dinner for 5 guests, and my Pork Loin Roast produced a total of TWO DROPS of pan drippings! I'd received a weekly email from ATK shortly before T'Giving, and one item mentioned a meatless gravy. I dismissed the idea out-of-hand, but scanned it out of curiosity of how they could flavor a gravy with no drippings.<br/>FFWD to Christmas, and I'm in a near panic because I have no gravy for the Pork Loin or Mashed Potatoes I was serving. The ATK email was long deleted, but I remembered enough from scanning it, to make an attempt. I fine-diced 2 carrots, and a large yellow onion and sautéed them for probably 20-min until well caramelized. Coincidentally, I started a roux with a half cube of butter and a quarter cup of flour. Both skillets were over med-hi heat. By the time the car/oni were well done, the roux was a toasty med-dk brown. I whisked in about a quart+ of chicken stock, but I pureed the car/oni in the Vita-Mix and added it, instead of discarding it. I don't remember adding the Bay or Thyme, but I did simmer and reduce it to a med-thick consistency.<br/>Everyone had 2nds, and the picky teenager had 3rds! Try this, next time you get caught short of pan drippings; you'll be amazed how good this gravy can be!

 

[LtlPhyl 2]

Great little recipe when you have no meat or poultry drippings. If you would like to double the recipe, use a Dutch oven to give the vegetables ample space for browning and increase the cooking times by roughly 50 percent. The finished gravy can be frozen. To thaw either a single or double recipe, place the gravy and 1 tablespoon of water in a saucepan over low heat and bring slowly to a simmer. The gravy may appear broken or curdled as it thaws, but a vigorous whisking will recombine it.

 

[holleyizard]

This smells fabulous while cooking, tastes great too. I think the prep time is longer than mentioned, but worth it. I substituted 1/2 olive and 1/2 veg. oil for the butter to reduce saturated fat. It took some time and effort to make, so I will definitely triple the recipe and make extra for freezing next time. I hated throwing away the cooked veggies, next time I may freeze them to add to soup or stew.