Saturday night gravy

Good gravy, for me, makes the dish, if it's one of those meat and 3 veg type meals.   Bad gravy constitutes a criminal act, no gravy with certain dishes is just wrong and at a push you can just melt a large knob of butter on something hot and call it gravy when it melts!  As I once overheard someone in Leamington Spa say at a wedding (while asking for extra gravy) "I can't stand a dry dinner".  Wise words indeed.

 Sausages, Mash and PSB with red wine gravy

One of the more personally revealing things about being unable to cook for so many weeks while recovering from a big operation, is that it seems that I cook in such a way that it is really hard to tell someone else how to do it 'my way'. When pressed by my other half to explain how I made 'non-Bisto' gravy it was pretty difficult to exactly work out what I actually do to make gravy - especially with any firm idea of measured amounts and timings.

Despite this the resulting red wine gravy he made following my 'made up on the hoof recipe instructions' was great (I would have added more liquid to make it less thick if I had made it but that wasn't in the recipe). 

Tonight I made the delicious white wine gravy below for our meal of fennel chicken, mashed potato & celeriac and with spring greens....

White wine gravy recipe for fennel chicken

• finely dice an onion
• put a large knob of butter in a medium size saucepan with some olive oil and turn on to medium heat
• put in onions and saute gently
• slice 2 cloves of garlic and add to pan after a couple of minutes
• cook gently for a further 5 mins or so
• grind a small pinch of sea salt with half a teaspoon of fennel seeds
• add to pan and cook until ontions are translucent
• add one chicken stock cube (or vegetable if making veggie gravy)
• add about 2 tablespoons of plain flour to the pan and stir around to form a rough onion studded roux
• add a slug of white wine (about a glass) and stir in
• when thickened, add another glass of white wine and stir over the heat
• then add some water and let it bubble away for about 7-10 minutes, adding more water if necessary to keep it liquid enough
• taste and add more salt or a slug of lemon juice if necessary to balance flavours and make it tasty
• if cooking chicken breasts on baking tray, remove them from the tray once cooked and place aside to rest on a plate and cover with foil
• put used baking tray over very low heat and add a splash of white wine and allow the flavours and meat juices to melt into the wine
• after a couple of minutes pour this wine and meat juice mixture into the gravy at which ever point you have it ready to add.

I must add the full Fennel Chicken Recipe this gravy goes within a later post.....