I said I’d tell you how my walnut & herb “gravy” turned out. Well, let me tell you people, it turned out very well indeed! I’m quite proud of it! I called it gravy for the role that it served in our thanksgiving meal (it went beautifully with deep mushroom pie and chestnut/white bean stuffing!) But really it’s a sauce. It would be wonderful on pasta, with some sautéed veg thrown in. It’s a lovely, creamy, deep ivory color. But there’s no cream in it at all! In fact, if you made it with margarine or olive oil, it would be vegan. Its main ingredient is vegetable broth (other than the walnuts, of course). So be sure to use a good veg broth. It’s easy as pie to make your own, and you can use herbs in the broth to complement the herbs in the sauce! You see that glint in my eye? That bee in my bonnet? I plan to use this in a soup very soon. Mwah ha ha hah… I’ll let you know how that goes…

In the meantime, here’s The Soul Leaders with their wonderfully saucy song Pour on the Sauce.

1 cup walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
1 shallot – finely diced
2 cloves garlic – finely diced
2 T butter
1 1/2 T flour
2 bay leaves
1 t. sage, 1/2 t. thyme, 1/2 t. rosemary
pinch nutmeg
salt and plenty of pepper
4 cups (give or take) vegetable broth
dash balsamic
dash tamari

1. In a large FRying pan, melt the butter. When it starts to get foamy add the shallot and garlic and the herbs. Let them cook for a few minutes.

2. Add the flour and whisk it in till it’s thoroughly mixed. Let it cook for a couple minutes.

3. Add the walnuts and bay leaves, and keep whisking or stirring until everything is coated. Cook for a few minutes. Add a dash of tamari and 2 cups of vegetable broth, whisking everything together so that there are absolutely no lumps.

4. Bring to a boil, and then lower the heat and cook for about half an hour – you need to cook it this long, even if it seems done sooner. Stir frequently, but not constantly. Have extra broth nearby, and add more as the sauce thickens. You want it to be the consistency of heavy cream at the end.

5. Add a dash of balsamic and salt, and blend for a long time till it’s perfectly smooth. Well, it won’t become perfectly smooth, but it will become nice and creamy. Taste for salt and add plenty of pepper.

Eat!

5.