Critical items:
- onions (at least one)
- mushrooms (portabella or baby bella are best)
- about 4 Tbsp butter (olive oil would probably work, but
I've never tried)
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/2 cup sherry or marsala (other flavored liquids would
work, but these have the best flavor here)
- 2 - 4 cups liquid (ideally vegetable broth)
Extra bonus items:
- garlic (as much as you like)
- thyme, dried or fresh
- paprika
- fresh parsley
You'll
need two pans. First you saute onions, garlic and mushrooms in one. Then make
the roux in the second. Then add the first pan to the second pan.
Since this is a gravy, I chop the ingredients finely. Minced
onions, minced garlic, thinly sliced mushrooms. I almost never chop things
finely, but it's worth it. The liquids cook out faster and the gravy is
smoother.
You can throw your ingredients in, fry 'em up without
thinking and have something that works, or you can pay attention, and have
something great.
1. Fry the onions in a little butter or olive oil on high to medium high heat.
We want really nice brown bits to give the gravy that great roasted taste.
Obviously avoid burning them. Onions have quite a bit of liquid inside them, so
they can take a pretty high heat, but once they start turning brown, pay more
attention and stir more often to minimize the chance of burning.
2. Add the garlic when the onions are close to done. Garlic burns easily on
high heat, so this is when you want to turn down the heat to medium or medium
low.
3. Add the mushrooms. They'll have a decent amount of liquid in them from the
washing, so we want to cook them slowly to draw it out nicely for the sauce.
This time I ended up adding one box of mushrooms first, then chopping and
adding the second. This led to a nice gradation from totally cooked mushroom
bits to fairly solid mushroom slices. If I weren't so lazy I might have cooked
them longer, for a smoother gravy, but a few slices are nice too.
4. After the mushrooms have cooked down a little, add the thyme and paprika. I
tend to sprinkle, mix, smell or taste, and repeat the process until I'm happy.
I'm horrible at estimating times for these steps, and it's more important to
get it to the right doneness than check the time. But the onions might take 10
minutes, the garlic may take 1 minute, and the mushrooms another 10 minutes.
But while the mushrooms are cooking, you can start the roux... (And if the
mushrooms are done before the roux, you can take them off the heat until you're
ready for them, or vice versa.)
I don't know much about classic sauces, but I have learned
the key to good gravy: mix the fat with the flour first. Then cook it. Then add the liquid.
So, equal parts fat and flour. For this recipe, about 4 tablespoons of butter
and 1/4 cup flour. (Yes, those are equivalent amounts. Silly Imperial system.)
Melt the butter in a new pan (everything will end up in this pan at the end, so
it should be reasonably big) over medium heat. Mix in the flour. It'll bubble
oddly. It looks and smells like Playdoh. Kind of gross, right?
Keep stirring. And stirring. And stirring. You don't want to burn it, but you
do want to brown it. So medium heat is good. Lots of stirring. Thick bottomed
pans are better here for an even heat.
I can usually tell that my roux is ready from the smell more than the color. It
goes from smelling like Playdoh to smelling like baked pie crust. And
basically, that's what it is, cooked butter and flour. It just happens to be
liquid instead of solid.
Once you've got the roux ready to go, you should deglaze the
mushrooms. Deglazing is the point at which you use a liquid to melt those tasty
brown bits (fond) off the sides of the pan.
I just sprinkle as much sherry as I need, which is probably between 1/2 and 1/4
of a cup. All of the alcohol cooks off, so we're just doing it for the rich
flavors. If you don't have sherry on hand, you could use Marsala wine or
vermouth, or red or white wine. I think at one point I used a mix of apple
cider vinegar and water, but that was a long time ago.
Once the fond is mixed into the liquid, you're ready to add this to the roux.
Pour the mushroom bits into the roux. Stir a lot. It'll foam
up, but just keep stirring and pouring. The sauce should be thick and glossy.
It'll probably be too thick. This is when you add vegetable broth or water to
thin it out. If it's really thick, don't just add veggie broth -- it's too
salty. Add water too. If you're frugal like my Depression-raised grandmother,
you'll add the potato water from your mashed potatoes. Theoretically it has
lots of vitamins, and it's already hot.
See how the sides of the pan are nicely coated with thick gravy? Yum.
This is where you could mix in some minced fresh parsley.