Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Sloooooooow Gravy

Now I can whip up a quick gravy for mashed spuds or whatnot in about 30 seconds. It's so simple I'm not even going to go into the making thereof.

This gravy IS NOT like that.

This gravy is the main course for my extra special biscuits n gravy dinner that everyone down here loves. There are 2 keys to making this dinner... An awesomely good biscuit recipe (which I have) and the makings (and 8 hours) to make the gravy.

Yes, this gravy takes 8 hours. Most of that is "resting" time and some simmering time so it's not like you are going to slave over the stovetop all 8 hours. I usually do about 5 mins on my way through for each step.

You don't get an ingredient list since this changes depending on just what sort of meats and pan juices I have lying around. In fact, I think I'll just tell you what I did.

Here's what I did:

Half a can of mushrooms plus one glass of port wine went into the food processor and it was processed. That was put into a large saucepan along with 1/2 a minced onion, 2 cloves of crushed garlic and a sprinkle of sea salt. I simmered it till no liquid was left. Saucepan was de-glazed with 2 glasses of chardonnay and then simmered till almost no liquid was left. 3 glasses of shiraz were then added and it was simmered till the liquid was reduced by half.

It was then left to sit for 3 hours. I do believe I had a swim in the pool and then a nap during those 3 hours.

3 thick slices of a small, cooked, beef topside roast were diced along with the other half of the onion. It was all added to a wok along with 2 more crushed garlic cloves, sprinkle of sea salt and ground black pepper. That was dry seared in the hot wok for a minute or two, then deglazed with 1 glass of shiraz and 1 glass of chardonnay, and then simmered till the liquid was reduced by half.

That then sat for an hour.

Everything was combined into the large saucepan and roasting pan juices from a corned silverside and a beef topside roast were added --about two cups total. Plus 2 cups of water.

Whisked and heated, then checked for seasonings --nothing more was needed! Brought up to a boil and thickened with cornstarch/cornflour (in Aus it's called cornflour, in the US it's called cornstarch --same thing and it comes from WHEAT, not CORN) and then massive amounts of it were ladled over fresh, hot, flaky biscuits.

Very tasty, clean bowls all around!

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