I never… as in NEVER make gravy for any holiday or regular meal. Why? I always mess it up. It’s either too greasy, or the flour never blends. As a result, my family and I have lived without home made gravy forever.
So how about this for irony…
My daughter began a VEGAN diet earlier this year. And, like most families, Thanksgiving is a big and important holiday celebration for our family. So, this year, as the only vegan at our Thanksgiving, she decided to make her own Thanksgiving meal, — entirely plant based!
Watching from the sidelines as she whipped all of the ingredients together, I had VERY low expectations about how it would all taste.
Boy, was I wrong! The gravy was Killer! In fact, as far as I’m concerned it should be illegal it’s so good. Thank you Brandi Doming for the Inspiration! And the great part is that the gravy was easy for her to make……with NO flour clumping!
So, to be sure that the batch my daughter made wasn’t just a stroke of luck on her part — after all, she did use a wonderful bottle of 1992 Cabernet — I decided to make it myself. I used a more cost effective bottle of 2014 Decoy Cabernet Sauvignon for my wine choice.
Happily, I can report it definitely was not a fluke! In fact I would love to figure out a way to bottle it!
And, the thing I love most about this incredibly tasty, healthy, easy to make gravy is that if Ina Garten, Bobby Flay and Emeril all showed up at my table they would definitely think I was a brilliant cook. Now that’s confidence in a recipe!!
After you’ve made it please let me know what you think!
THYME CABERNET GRAVY
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
• 1 cup finely chopped white or yellow onion
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 extra large cloves)
• 2 cups LOW sodium vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt*
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons brown rice flour (or all purpose flour)
• 2 long sprigs of fresh thyme (or dried thyme, 1 teaspoon)
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1/4 cup Cabernet Sauvignon
* For added flavor substitute Sea Salt with Black Truffle Salt
Instructions
1. Measure out all ingredients first so that as the sauce is cooking, you can quickly add them as required.
2. Using a 3quart sauce pot pour in 1 cup of vegetable broth. Add onion, garlic, salt and pepper and stir it well. Bring to a boil and turn the heat down to low. Let it cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. The broth will reduce by about half.
3. Very slowly add the brown rice flour to the pot while whisking at the same time so that it blends easily and doesn’t clump. It will start to thicken immediately.
4. Add remaining 1 cup of broth, wine, nutritional yeast and sprigs of fresh thyme. You will be adding the sprigs whole. The herbs will fall off on their own as it cooks. Stir and bring the gravy back to a boil. Once boiling reduce the heat to lowest setting and cover. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Remove from heat and pull out and discard the thyme sticks. Serve as is or for a smoother consistency add gravy to a food processor and blend.
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