Sunday, November 25, 2012

MUSHROOM GRAVY.

First of all, I hope that you all had a happy Thanksgiving.  It's too bad that Thanksgiving isn't a tradition around the world since the two main themes - FOOD and BEING THANKFUL - are universal, or could be, or should be!!

Second, here is a tip for making your Thanksgiving meal easier.  Make the gravy ahead of time!   This is the recipe that I make and it always turns out great.  It can be made ahead of time and frozen; and it can be made as "vegetarian" by substituting the chicken broth for vegetable broth.  For greater richness, add the juices from your cooked turkey.



MUSHROOM THYME GRAVY.  Makes about 4 cups/Serves about 8.
*  2 tablespoons butter
*  1 small onion, chopped
*  1 tablespoon minced garlic
*  8 oz fresh crimini mushrooms, sliced
*  2 oz dried shitake/porcini mushrooms, rehydrated and sliced
*  2 (14-1/2 oz each) cans of chicken broth (as needed)
*  1/3 cup flour
*  1-1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
     Rehydrate dried mushrooms by covering them with boiling water and letting them rest for a half hour or so until they are tender.  Remove and slice the mushrooms, but save the mushroom broth to use here.
     Over medium heat melt the butter in a large saucepan.  Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes or until tender.  Add the garlic and mushrooms (and dried thyme, if using) and cook an additional 5 minutes or until tender.
     Put flour in a large jar and add mushroom and chicken broth to nearly fill the jar.  Cover the jar and shake vigorously until the flour has fully mixed into the broth.  Raise heat under the mushrooms and, while stirring, slowly pour the flour mixture and some of the remaining broth into the mushrooms, along with the fresh thyme.  Cook, stirring frequently, until gravy reaches desired consistency.  If the gravy is too thick, add additional broth or juices from the turkey; if the gravy is too thin, continue boiling the gravy.  This could take a while if too much broth has been added.

I hope you will give this a try and let me know what you think!

1 comment:

  1. This sounds delicious! I'm not normally a gravy person, but I think this would be really good! Thanks for sharing. Also, I agree that it's too bad everyone doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving!

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