Vegetarian Gravy for Thanksgiving

[mikka]

I'm making 2 gravy's for t-day, one from the turkey parts, but I also want to make a vegetarian one for my sister-in-law (she loves it on her mashed potatoes). What's the best recipe for this? Does it even exist? Please help.

[Snackish]

It's been a while, but I used to make a vegan nut gravy with cashews that was pretty tasty. But this is coming from someone who has never, ever tasted "real" gravy.

[JoanN]

Mushrooms! Yes! There are lots of excellent mushroom gravy recipes around. I've made one from Anthony Dias Blue's book Thanksgiving Dinner that's wonderful. It calls for chicken stock, but no reason it couldn't be made with vegetable stock. I found this recipe on the Web that's quite similar to the one I make.

http://www.ehow.com/how_6988_make-mus...

If you Google "mushroom gravy" I'm sure you'll find lots more.

[Glencora]

I think the nutritional yeast is for...nutrition. As a kid, I followed one of my parents' hippie recipes for a smoothie, using regular yeast, by mistake. It made everyone burp.

As for the gravy, I bet you could do something yummy with mushrooms, in addition to the carmelized onions.

[megek]

That cracked me up.

[megek]

Here is a vegan recipe, that I love (even though I am not vegan)! It is really all about deeply caramelized onions. The original recipe was from The Kripalu Cookbook but I have made some additions:

Autumn Gravy (this only makes enough for ~4-6 servings)

1/4 cup canola oil
4 onions, diced
1 3/4 cup water
few sprinkles garlic salt
1/2 t salt (to taste)
fresh ground pepper
2 T dried sage
2 T tamari
3 T nutritional yeast (you can find this in Whole Foods bulk section or natural grocery stores - I don't know why you need to add it, maybe you don't)

In a large, heavy skillet, heat oil and saute onions. Do this slowly until they get extremely caramelized. I think it usually takes 45 min or so - just make sure they are nice and dark (but not burnt), because this is where the flavor comes from. Add garlic salt, salt, pepper, and sage. Stir for a minute then slowly add water, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly. Add tamari and nutritional yeast and simmer for 5 more minutes. Blend thoroughly in a blender. Reheat if necessary.

[keloise]

Nutritional yeast is a natural source of MSG, which makes it tasty and gives it a "meaty" flavor. If you don't add the nutritional yeast, it might not taste as good. (Other natural sources of MSG are mushrooms and parmesan cheese.)