Brown Non-Cow Gravy or Stroganoff

Good Gravy!

I was recently discussing gravy with friends and it got me to craving a nice plate of mashed 'taters and brown gravy. My parents dropped off a truck-load of beautiful potatoes last night so what else could I do? I make AWESOME gravy, if I do say so myself... Awesome VEGAN gravy!

All bragging aside, I frequently have skeptic non-veggie people ask how I can possibly make gravy without turkey or roast drippings - silly meatheads, I love you all, but gravy without animals is easy. Even those nasty salty little flavored envelopes at the supermarket are often accidentally vegan.

Homemade gravy is easy too, so skip the salt-laden envelope of bleh, and make it from scratch!

And come on, it tastes SOOO much better! And without those meat drippings, it's a whole lot better for you, and keeps the cows happy too, right?!! The following recipe is for a very flavorful "Brown Gravy", the stuff my family likes on mashed potatoes or with meatballs, a vegetarian "roast" or seitan/gluten. If you want it more "chicken-or-turkey"-like, use a "chicken-style" broth and less mushrooms)

Rich Brown Non-Cow Gravy

28 oz. Vegetarian "beef" or vegetable broth (I usally use "Imagine" Foods in the aseptic box, but you can mix your own from bullion and water, or do whatever you want).
1 cup coarsely chopped onion
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh mushrooms
1/4 cup coarsely chopped celery
2 Tbs. red wine (the alcohol cooks off, or just use more broth)
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/2 tsp. sage (1 Tbsp. chopped fresh is awesome here if you have it)
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 Tbsp. Earth Balance or other margarine
2 T. all-purpose flour

Combine first 8 ingredients in a medium saucepan.
Bring to a boil; cook 15 minutes or until liquid is reduced to about 2 cups (I just eyeball it, it needs to reduce by about 1/4 less than what you started with I estimate...).

Strain broth mixture through a sieve into a bowl; discard solids. (I know, this step sounds sounds wasteful, but it makes a nice smooth gravy - if you want, you can make chunky vegetable gravy and leave them in, in that case, chop much finer and use about 2 cups of chopped mushrooms).

Melt margarine in large skillet; place over medium-high heat until hot. Add flour, and cook 2 minutes or until browned, stirring constantly. Take off heat and allow to cool a bit.

While off the heat, add 1/4 cup broth mixture to flour; stir well with a whisk. Add remaining broth mixture, stirring well with a whisk.
Turn heat back on to medium-high.
Bring mixture to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 3 minutes, or until thick, stirring constantly. Adjust seasonings to taste (more salt or pepper).

Serve with potatoes, noodles, dumplings, meatballs, whatever...

To make this into Stroganoff:

Make above gravy. Add 2 cups sauteed mushrooms.

Stir in 1/2 container Tofutti Sour Cream and heat gently. Serve over rice or noodles. SO SO YUM!