Umami Gravy The Gravy for the week
- Yield 9 servings
- Prep 10 minutes
- Cook 50 minutes
- Total 1 hour 30 minutes
Umami Gravy The Gravy for the week sits in the Vegetables section of Regbie. The card serves 9 servings. Plan on 1 hour 30 minutes from the first measure to the plate. The amounts and the method are both written on this page.
Ingredients
Yield: 9 servings
- ½ ounce dried porcini mushrooms
- 2 onions, diced
- ½ pound cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 fresh thyme sprigs
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Method
Rinse the dried mushrooms with cool water and place them in a small bowl. Tip in enough water to cover the mushrooms and keep nearby for at least 30 minutes to soften.
In a medium saucepan, melt the ghee over a medium burner. Tip in in the onions and sauté for 10 to 15 minutes or until translucent.
Then, drop in the tomato paste and fish sauce. Whisk to evenly distribute the umami boosters, before dumping in the sliced cremini mushrooms. Leave the mushrooms until the liquid is released and evaporated, about 10 minutes.
In the meantime, fish the reconstituted porcini mushrooms out of the bowl of water, and roughly chop them up.
Tip in the garlic to the saucepan, and cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant.
Then, mix in the reconstituted dried mushrooms, pour in the broth, and drop in the thyme sprigs. Increase the heat to high and bring the gravy to a boil.
Decrease heat to medium-low to maintain a strong gently bubble/low boil, and cook until the gravy has reduced by half, about 30 minutes. Be patient—you want half of the liquid to evaporate in order to concentrate the flavors. Plus, you don’t want the gravy to be thin and watery once blended.
Lift from the heat. Take out the thyme twigs and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Using an immersion blender or a regular blender, purée the gravy until smooth.
Kitchen notes
- Don’t worry—the smidge of fish sauce doesn’t make your gravy fishy; it just amps up the umami.
- (Don’t know what umami is?
- Listen to the cook podcast by clicking here !) Makes 3 cups total, serving size is 1/3 cup.
