Making Proper Gravy - The Gluten Free Way

For Easter I just cooked up a Sunday dinner, doing two chickens as we had guests. A major part of Sunday dinner for me is the gravy. It's what pulls the whole thing together and a good gravy can juice up the driest meat and save a bad roast potato.

But it's got to be good gravy, and it's got to be gluten free. Here's how I do mine.

Whatever the meat, I cook some veg in the same roasting tray. This depends on the meat, but always includes onions, carrots and garlic. We love garlic. For chicken I also include a lemon cut in half and some streaky bacon strips or cubes of pancetta. For lamb I bung in some rosemary instead. For pork I sometimes bung in an apple, and some fennel seeds. It needs to be the sort of veg that can take a slow roasting and will mush up a bit.

I cook the veg in with the meat, and I add water to the tray when things seem to be getting a bit brown and marmitey. It's important to not let your brown stuff get burnt, keep an eye on things and add more water when needed.

When your meat is done take it out to rest and deal with the gravy. Squish all the stuff in the tray up and mix it round to get all the goodness, then stick it through a metal sieve into a jug. Really squish it through the sieve to get all the good stuff out. You need to put this resulting soupy purée into a tall jug now, and scoop off as much as the fat as you can. Leaving a bit is ok, as it adds flavour.

Put your resulting gravy in a sauce pan and test the flavour. You want to check how salty it is, not enough then add some, too salty then add some water. Your gravy is good to go if you don't mind a but of oil on the top, just warm it up. If you would prefer the fat to be combined then put a bit of gluten free corn flour in a mug, about a couple of teaspoons, add a bit of water to make a runny paste, and whisk this into the gravy. As you warm it up whisk it round and round and it will thicken slightly and the fat will be incorporated.

It's easy to get your gravy just as you like it, to salty or thick? Add more water. Too thin? Thicken with cornflour. Need to add salt?

Importantly this doesn't use any stock cube or gravy granuals, and it's got loads of hidden vegetables in it for some extra goodness. If you are dong chicken I strongly urge you to include lemon, garlic and some sort of bacon. Amazing. If you are doing pork, try some chopped up chorizo, your gravy will be incredible.