Ideal Complement For Roast Meal – 2 Sauces and 3 Vegetables
Gravy
After you’ve taken roasted meat from the roasting pan you will be left with fat, juices from meat and brown bits stuck to the bottom of pan. Treasure these brown bits as they’re loaded with flavor. You can increase the flavor and brown bits by adding a finely chopped onion to the pan for the last 40 minutes of roasting.
There are 2 schools of thought about gravy
- just use the juices
- add flour to thicken
We’re going to add flour.
first scrape the bottom of pan to get off all brown bits
put the pan on a medium heat
when the fat starts to bubble add some all-purpose (plain) flour, here I’ve added 3 dessert spoons
how much you use depends on how many people you’re making gravy for and how much fat you have, 3 dessert spoons should easily be enough for 4 people.
stir to completely mix the flour, fat, juices and brown bits
let the mixture bubble away for a couple of minutes which will start cooking the flour
add a glass of red wine and stir to mix
the mixture will froth up – let it bubble for another minute or so which will evaporate the alcohol from the wine, but leave the flavor
add a pint or two of stock if you have it, or water from cooking vegetables or just plain tap water
add salt, pepper herbs to taste
let bubble away to cook and thicken for 5-10 minutes
This gravy is very similar to white sauce except it’s brown.