Mushroom Gravy Powder

by Liz Child

This homemade gravy powder is so handy to have on standby in your kitchen cupboard. It will bring bags of flavour to your festive feast and can also be used to thicken up and flavour stews and pies. To make this powder into gravy, we like to use a nutty browned butter and rich red wine base. Read on below to see how it comes together.

Liz x

Gravy Powder

  • 6 tbsp corn starch (or potato starch or tapioca)
  • 3 tbsp crumbled dried mushrooms
  • 6 tbsp vegetable bouillon powder
  • 1 tbsp garlic or onion powder/granules
  • 2 tsp dried thyme
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper

Method

  1. Simply measure the ingredients into a strong blender and process until they come together into a fine powder. Then store in a clean, dry, labelled jar.

Ingredients to Make Gravy:

  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 100ml red wine (white wine works well too)
  • 300ml milk
  • 3 tbsp gravy powder (above)
  • salt to taste if needed

Method

  1. Add a tbsp of butter to a hot pan (we use Naturli vegan butter which browns beautifully) and cook for a couple of minutes on a high heat until it foams then starts to brown. (Browning the butter creates a complex, nutty flavour and the butter also gives the gravy a shiny and silky texture.)
  2. Next add 100ml of red wine and boil for a few minutes to cook off the alcohol and reduce slightly.
  3. Meanwhile whisk 3 tbsp of the gravy powder with 300ml of milk (we use delicious, creamy oat milk). When the red wine has reduced, add the milk mixture to the pot, then whisk and simmer until the gravy is thickened. If you’d like a looser gravy, add a splash more milk or water.
  4. Taste and season if needed with a pinch of salt. Serve hot and enjoy!

Beet Bourguignon

by Liz Child

This stew is so hearty and delicious. The depth of flavour from the combination of sweet beetroots, earthy mushrooms, nutty lentils, red wine, garlic and herbs makes a really memorable dish which you’ll be making over and over again. This meat-free version of beef bourguignon packs just as much punch in the flavour department, as well as many more nutrients. Lentils are cheap and nutritious, bringing lots of fibre, protein, B vitamins and iron to your plate. Our Irish beetroots are rich in antioxidants, folate and nitrates. Mushrooms contain many important vitamins, minerals and antioxidants too. All in all, you can be assured that this plant based version of the classic French stew is doing you good.

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 4)

  • 1 large red onion, roughly diced (shallots or white onions work fine here too)
  • 1 whole bulb of garlic, cloves separated & peeled
  • 250g mushrooms, halved or quartered
  • 300g beetroot, scrubbed & roughly diced
  • a generous drizzle of olive oil
  • salt and black pepper to taste
  • 200g green lentils, rinsed
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 5 sprigs of thyme
  • 250ml red wine
  • 500ml vegetable stock
  • 1 tbsp capers
  • mashed potatoes to serve

Method

  1. In a large pot, mix the onion, garlic, beetroot and mushroom, then oil and season with salt and pepper. Now, if you have the oven on, you can roast these ingredients for around 20 minutes until they are just soft and starting to take on some delicious caramelisation. If you’d rather not put the oven on, you can sauté these ingredients on a medium heat on the stove top instead.
  2. Now place the pot over a high heat and add the lentils, wine, bay leaves, thyme sprigs and capers. Stir for a few minutes to cook out the wine and then add the vegetable stock. Cover the pot and turn down to simmer for 20 or 30 minutes, until the lentils are cooked through. Stir occasionally to ensure the lentils don’t catch and add a splash more water if needed.
  3. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed with more salt or pepper. Then serve with creamy mashed potatoes and some seasonal greens. Enjoy!

Portobello Steak with Chimichurri

by Liz Child

This one-tray bake is one of our favourite date-night specials with a bottle of red wine. It’s no hassle at all to put together and tastes incredible! It’s always the simple, organic ingredients that are the stars of the show. Who’d have thought a tray of some simply roasted vegetables could be so special? Portobello mushrooms are rich, juicy and simply spectacular when roasted. Their meaty texture and unique umami make them the perfect steak substitute! The Argentinian, herby chimichurri drizzle really brightens and lightens the dish and brings it all together. It’s a great sauce to add to your repertoire. It’s goes perfectly with BBQ’d and roasted vegetables.

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 2)

  • 4 portobello mushrooms
  • as many potatoes as you like
  • 1 red onion (or two shallots)
  • 1 bundle of asparagus (or any seasonal green you like – broccoli, kale…)
  • olive oil, salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 bunch of coriander
  • 1/2 bunch of parsley
  • 1 tbsp dried oregano
  • 1 shallot – peeled and roughly chopped
  • 1 red chilli – roughly chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic – peeled
  • 1 large pinch of salt
  • 3 tbsp red wine vinegar (or any vinegar you like)
  • enough olive oil to blend into a loose sauce

Method

  1. Pre-heat your oven to 200C and find a large roasting dish.
  2. Arrange the mushrooms in the dish and scrub and cut your potatoes into thick wedges. If you have new potatoes, just cut them in half. Add them to the roasting dish along with a peeled and quartered red onion.
  3. Drizzle olive oil over the vegetables and season well with salt and pepper. Pop the dish in the oven to roast while you prepare the asparagus and the chimichurri.
  4. Add the herbs, shallot, garlic, chilli, salt and vinegar to a small blender or food processor. Add a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and blend into a loose sauce. Pour the sauce into a clean jar and it will stay fresh in the fridge for at least 2 weeks. Bring it out next time you have a BBQ. Alternatively you can freeze any unused sauce to use another time.
  5. Snap the woody ends off the asparagus and add them to the compost bin (or pop them in a box of peels and offcuts in the freezer to make veg stock with another time). Put the spears in a large bowl and drizzle with a little olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and mix well to coat the spears in the seasoning.
  6. When the mushroom, potatoes and onions are cooked through and starting to take on some colour (after about 20 minutes or so in the oven), add the asparagus to the roasting dish and return it to the oven to roast for a further 5 minutes or so.
  7. Then dish up. Divide the roasted vegetables between two plates and drizzle the chimichurri over the roasted mushrooms. Enjoy with a glass of red wine.

Beet Bourguignon

by Liz Child

This is my plant based take on the classic French stew. Beetroots have a beautifully earthy, almost bloody quality which seeps and simmers into a spectacularly rounded sauce. I roast wedges of beetroot and onion, chunks or whole mushrooms and whole, peeled cloves of garlic before starting the lentil stew to create a complexity of flavour you wouldn’t get from simply simmering everything together.

Roasting caramelises the edges of vegetables and brings little sweet and smokey flavours and textures to the finished dish. It’s those layers of flavour…the outer edges that caramelise, the middle that is sweet and soft, the simmering richness, the fragrance of bay and thyme leaves, the tang and texture of red wine…that make a simple stew into a memorable meal. Serve on mashed potatoes or with good bread, some wilted greens, whatever is in season, and a dollop of Dijon mustard. Enjoy in front of a fire on a chilly winters evening with a glass of red wine. Liz x

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

Method

Turn your oven on to 200C and put the beetroot, onion, garlic cloves and mushrooms in an oven and hob safe pot. Drizzle a tbsp or so of olive oil over the vegetables, season them generously with salt and pepper and mix well.

Roast the vegetables in the oven until they take on some colour and start to soften. This should take around 30 minutes. Take the pot out of the oven and stir the vegetables every 10 minutes or so to ensure each vegetable feels the full force of the heat and gets a little caramelised.

Then bring the pot onto the hob and add the mug of lentils, the thyme, bay leaves and mug of wine. Get the pot on to simmer and add the water or stock.

Let the dish simmer until the lentils are cooked through. This should take around 30 minutes. Keep an eye on it, you may need to add more water or stock if it starts to dry out.

Taste for seasoning and add more salt or pepper as you like. Then serve with good bread or mashed potatoes and some wilted greens.

Illustrations from my cookbook, Cook Draw Feed. Available to add to your next order here.

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