How to Make Vegan, Gluten Free Gravy With Stock

In this Instructable you will learn how to make my awesome gravy I have been serving with all the lovely roast dinners you might have seen in my previous Instructables. I like my gravy rich and thick. Today I made mine using leeks and cauliflower leaf stock but you could substitute shallots or red onions for the leek and use the stock from whatever vegetables you happen to be boiling up. In the past I have done a mashed celeriac, baked in the oven with cheese and used the celeriac stock in the gravy. This recipe is vegan, nut-free and gluten free.

Cooking time; 15 minutes.

Serves 4.

I think it is a great shame that gravy is often an afterthought, made at the last minute with gravy granules but a home-made gravy can be as important a part of a roast as any other dish.

For this gravy I have used gluten free plain flour but you can use standard wheat flour or cornflour if you don't need it to be gluten free. Gluten free flour tends to take up more water than standard flour so I would reduce the quantity of flour a bit if you are using standard.

I am vegetarian but if I am cooking for carnivores I will split the gravy and add the juice from the chicken to half of it, giving it a brisk stir. Remember to gauge how many veggies vs. meat-eaters you've got and make more of whichever gravy you will need most of.

Another variation is to add two or three mushrooms to the leeks when you fry them to make a mushroom gravy, again, I would reduce the flour if you do this. You could also add a dash of red wine if the gravy is being served with beef.

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• A leek or medium onion.

• Vegetable stock. I wasn't boiling any vegetables for this roast but I had the leaves from a cauliflower so boiled these up instead. You could use a stock cube but it's better boiling up some veg. You will need a pint of stock for four people.

• Gluten free flour.

• Oil (I prefer olive but you can use butter or whatever type of oil you prefer).

• Soy sauce. This is mostly for colour but does also add richness. Alternatives are Worcestershire sauce or gravy browning.

• Salt and pepper. I would leave these out if you are using a stock cube.

If you are boiling a root vegetable for mash, such as swede or celeriac, you can use the water from this. I boiled these cauliflower leaves for about 15 minutes and used the water.

Chop the leek. Chop the mushrooms now if you want to add these.

Add a couple of tablespoons of oil or butter to a saucepan on a medium heat. Fry the vegetables.

Fry until the leeks are browning then add 2-3 tablespoons of flour, depending on how thick you want your gravy. Three gives thick gravy. Two would be be quite thick. One would be thin.

Fry for another two minutes.

Add salt and pepper.

Strain the greens into the pan.

Add a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce and simmer for ten minutes.

Blend until smooth, a minute or two.

Warm the gravy boat first then pour the gravy into it through a sieve. Use a wooden or silicon spoon to stir the gravy through the sieve.

Enjoy!