Main Supper Lunch

Sarah Rossi’s Make-ahead Gravy Recipe

Sarah Rossi’s stress-free make-ahead Gravy - If there’s just one recipe you make in advance, let it be this one. Making gravy on the big day, using the bottom of the roasting tin after your meat is cooked is, of course, delicious, but – oh my goodness – the pressure that adds to the whole proceedings is something else. The added benefit of using this method is that the gravy is accidentally vegan (if you use suitable wine), so everyone can enjoy it. It does take a while to let this roast and bubble for maximum flavour, so cook a double batch and freeze it in portions for anytime a meal calls for gravy.

20 minutes prep, 2 hours 10 minutes cook

Serves 6

Ingredients

2 onions

500g leeks

450g carrots

4 celery sticks

1 garlic bulb

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp tomato purée

10g fresh thyme

2 bay leaves

2 vegetable stock cubes (no need to dilute)

1.5 litres water

180ml white wine (check the label if you're vegetarian or vegan)

25g cornflour

2 tbsp dark soy sauce (I use reduced salt)

2 tbsp redcurrant jelly

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 200°C fan/220°C/Gas Mark 7.

2 Start by preparing the vegetables, cut the tops and bottom off each onion, remove the outermost later of skin, but leave on as much of the rest of the skin as you can, then cut in half, and each half into quarters. Cut the leeks, carrots and celery into 2cm chunks (you can leave the carrots unpeeled). Cut the top off the garlic bulb.

3 Put all the vegetables on a baking tray, drizzle with the olive oil, and add a good seasoning of salt and pepper. Put in the oven and set a timer for 50 minutes.

4 When the timer goes off, remove the tray from the oven, give everything a good shake and add the tomato purée and thyme. Return to the oven for 10 minutes, until the vegetables have turned very brown, then transfer them to a large saucepan. Carefully squeeze the garlic out of its skin into the vegetables, add the bay leaves, stock cubes, water and white wine, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour (it should be bubbling).

5 Using a large sieve, strain the mixture into a large bowl, discarding the vegetables. Pour the gravy back into the saucepan.

6 Put the cornflour in a small dish and add just enough of the gravy to make a smooth paste (making this cornflour paste helps avoid lumps). Pour the paste back into the saucepan of gravy and mix well. Add the soy sauce and redcurrant jelly and cook over a low heat for a further 5–10 minutes until thickened, whisking often to avoid any lumps.

To make ahead
When the gravy is cold pour it into a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 3 months. Freeze in one batch or separate into a couple. Defrost thoroughly in the fridge overnight and reheat over a medium heat in a saucepan on the hob until hot through.

Replace the wine with additional water if you prefer an alcohol-free version

Recipes extracted from What’s for Christmas Dinner? by Sarah Rossi, published by HarperNonFiction. Photography by Sam Folan.