Sunday 23 September 2018

VeganMoFo 2018 #23: Gravy Days



Sunday 23rd: Sunday Dinner – Did you ever have a “Sunday Dinner” tradition? Make a vegan version.

I just realised that I have forgotten to put the MoFo header picture in most of my posts, oh well. Here it is now! For the final week of MoFo, I am joining back in with the prompts!

I don't remember having a Sunday dinner tradition, though I know of traditional Sunday dinners. They often involve gravy, and I love gravy! So I decided to go with grave as a theme. I generally make my own gravies from scratch, but I thought it would be fun to try out a vegan gravy powder from the supermarket. The one I got was the Massel Supergravy Granules Supreme.

The first night I tried it, I made some Potato-Stuffed Portobellos from the No Meat Athlete cookbook. Portobello mushrooms are marinated, then stuffed with Kale-cannon and baked. The mushrooms are marinaded in 1/4 cup of marinade (recipe also in the book), but I found that this wasn't really enough to get my mushrooms properly soaked. I had to thin it a bit. The recipe calls for four large portobellos, and I used three big ones (for three serves), but maybe mine were super big? I also only used less than half of the mashed potato mixture to fill them. The flavours were all a bit mild, so you definitely want a strong flavour like some gravy to complement them. As for the kale-cannon, it is a variation of the colcannon recipe in the book. I used 6 large potatoes and 1 bunch of kale, and got a lot of mash! I didn't have any lemon zest, so added a bit of juice, and I didn't feel like making 1/4 cup of cashew cream so I just used oat milk. The potatoes have a bit of nutmeg in them, but I found that taste to be somewhat overpowering.
Rating: Kale-cannon :), Potato-Stuffed Portobellos

Kalecannon


Potato-Stuffed Portobellos


But what of the gravy? I served my mushrooms with some steamed broccoli and gravy. I made the gravy according to the instant directions on the back of the jar - 1 1/2 tbs powder into 50mL cold water and stir, then add 200mL of boiling water. What a let down, it was so watery and thin. You can see how it is more like a gravy-tinted sauce when we poured it over things.

Potato-Stuffed Portobellos


I don't know who wrote those instructions, but they were so very wrong. Not to be discouraged, I returned to the gravy the next night. I did have a lot of leftover kale-cannon after all, and I had some ideas for tinkering with the gravy mix to make something that actually resembled gravy. I served my left over mash with some Vegie Delights Herb & Garlic Sausages that I had picked up on sale at Coles, as well as some green bean casserole. The sausages were super nice, and I would definitely get them again.

Green Bean Casserole Redux from 1000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson was my first time making a green bean casserole. I loved it! I made a half batch, which was enough for three people. Though even with halving the size of the casserole dish called for, it was very shallow in it. Green beans, onions, and mushrooms are in a seasoned non-dairy milk-based thickened sauce. The recipe calls for fried onion rings to be mixed through and sprinkled on top. I had a few of these left over from a time that I bought some at an online shop, but not enough. I didn't mix any of the them through. Instead I mixed the ones I had with some toasted almonds, and used the combination for the sprinkle. I actually think the toasted almonds were way better, adding a lovely crunch while the fried onions just got a bit soggy. Regardless, this was so great.
Rating: :D

Green Bean Casserole Redux


As for the gravy, this time I had a plan. I mixed 3 TBS (these are 20mL Australian TBS) with 50mL of cold water to dissolve, then added 1/2 cup of hot water. And I got a perfect gravy! This is the ratio you are after. It was dark, thick, and had loads of flavour. You can see the difference.

Mash, sausages, green beans, and gravy


So the moral of this story is that the Massel people have no idea how to use their product to make a good gravy, but thankfully I do! Using my ratios, I will definitely be using this again. A great quick product to have on stand-by, as long as you don't read the instructions!

(% 1000 Vegan Recipes blogged: 28.5%)

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post

Possum and Sahara


Sahara contemplates Possum

7 comments:

  1. How odd that they seem to have the wrong gravy ratio on the jar. I know people have different opinions on gravy viscosity but that does seem too thin. Glad you were able to figure it out anyway! I often forget about gravy which is a shame because there are so many good recipes and the powders/cubes can be good too. Your stuffed portobellos look super delicious!

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    1. I almost want to send them an email or something to advise them of their rather tragic instructions. But definitely worth persevering to get a yummy, instant gravy.

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  2. I haven't had green bean casserole since I went vegan but I think it looks great.

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    1. It seems like such an iconic American food, so I have known about it for a long time. I'm keen to try some other vegan versions of it as well. I did once make a green bean casserole pizza from Bake & Destroy, which was fun.

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  3. I love green bean casserole. It's one of the few holiday foods I love!
    The revised gravy looks soooo much better!!
    Possum looks uncomfortable with the scrutiny!

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    1. He viewed Sahara as an annoying little sister, I think!

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  4. I love how you keep track of all the recipes from the book. Part of me feels like I should be doing that with How It All Vegan, since I've had it for so long. lol

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