Mashed potatoes and gravy – 3rd Advent

Happy third advent, everyone! ?️?️?️⛄??

For todays post we wanted to share something heartier, two of the classic side dishes that have a place at a lot of feasts (Thanksgiving, Christmas…) in America and the UK: mashed potatoes and gravy.

There are endless options on how to serve this, along with a turkey, roasted goose or ham. A vegan/ vegetarian version of a classic Christmas dinner can be achieved by for example stuffing and roasting a pumpkin or making a nut roast.

What ties everything together anyway, is this amazingly tasty gravy, that is even suitable for vegans, as it doesn’t require any meat. Champignons, soy sauce, mustard and red wine are the key components that make this sauce convincing even for meat lovers!

For the mashed potatoes, make sure to use mealy potatoes. They contain a lot more starch than other potatoes and make for a nice and fluffy mash.

We hope you all are doing well and that you will enjoy following these amazingly easy and quick recipes! (Maybe that could be your contribution to this years Christmas Dinner?)??️ 

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Recipe for gravy:

Ingredients:

1 big onion, cut into thin slices

150 g of Champignons, cut into thin slices 

Some vegetable oil

Salt to taste

1 tbsp vegan Butter

1 Carrot, cut into big chunks

1 bay leave

1 sprig of thyme

2 tsp brown sugar

1 tbsp flour

350 ml vegetable stock

50 ml red wine

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp red wine vinegar/ balsamic vinegar

½ tsp mustard

Instructions:

1. Fry onions and mushrooms with oil on high heat in a large pot. After one minute, add the salt and keep frying for around 5 additional minutes.
2. Add carrot, vegan butter, bay leaf, sprig of thyme and sugar and cook out for another 6 minutes. The vegetables should brown a bit, but don’t let it burn.
3. Add flour and under continuous stirring, cook out for around 3 minutes, until the mixture is golden brown.
4. Deglaze with red wine, add soy sauce, vinegar and mustard.
5. Let the sauce bubble away for 20 minutes without a lid.
6. Now you can decide, whether you want to a) strain the sauce and continue to let it simmer down for 5-10 minutes, or b) blend everything up with a mixer (in this case I would recommend taking out a few pieces of carrot, as the sauce gets thick really fast. Don’t throw them out, though, they taste amazing!)

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Recipe for mashed potatoes:

Ingredients:

1 kg mealy potatoes, peeled, cut into even pieces (not bigger than 4cm)

1 tsp salt, plus more

ca 360 ml of milk or dairy free milk alternative

3 sprigs of thyme (optional)

2 bay leaves

125 g of butter or vegan butter

freshly ground black pepper

(nutmeg, optional)

Instructions:

1. Place potatoes in a large pot and pour in cold water to cover by 2 cm. Add salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are very tender but not saturated or crumbly, 20–25 minutes (boiling will lead to waterlogged pieces).
2. Drain potatoes. Return potatoes to pot and set over low heat. Gently stir until dry, about 1 minute.
3. Meanwhile, heat milk, thyme sprigs, if desired, bay leaves, and the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until butter is melted. Remove from heat.
4. Pass hot potatoes through a ricer into a large bowl or use a hand mixer to make a fluffy mash. Take out the herbs from the milk mixture and add it bit by bit, until desired consistency is achieved. Season with salt and pepper (and nutmeg) and serve with some additional butter on top.

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