Herbed Gravy Recipes

HERBED PAN GRAVY

Steps:

• The giblets and neck from a turkey make a great flavorful stock that helps ensure a rich, tasty gravy, but you may substitute more chicken broth if you prefer.;
• To make giblet stock: Place giblets (except liver), neck and water in a large saucepan. (Reserve the liver for another use or discard.) Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer, skimming and discarding any foam, for 1 hour. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve.
• To make gravy: After removing the turkey from the roasting pan, pour any pan juices and fat into a large glass measuring cup and place in the freezer so the fat rises to the top, about 10 minutes. Skim the fat off with a spoon and discard. (Alternatively, pour the pan juices and fat into a fat separator then pour the defatted juices into a large measuring cup.) Add any accumulated juices from the resting turkey to the defatted pan juices; add the reserved giblet stock plus enough chicken broth so the combined liquids measure 5 cups total.
• Whisk 1/2 cup chicken broth and flour in a small bowl until smooth.
• Set the roasting pan over two burners on medium-high heat. Add deglazing liquid; bring to a boil and cook, scraping up the browned bits from the pan, until the liquid is reduced, about 3 minutes. Add the 5 cups of liquid from Step 2. Increase the heat to high and return to a boil, whisking often and scraping up any remaining browned bits. Boil until reduced to 2 3/4 cups, 8 to 12 minutes. Whisk the reserved broth-and-flour mixture into the roasting pan. Boil, whisking constantly, for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and pour the gravy through a fine sieve into a large measuring cup. Stir in herbs, if using. Taste and season with salt (if needed) and pepper.
• NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per 3-tablespoon serving: 34 calories; 2 g fat (1 g sat, 1 g mono); 2 mg cholesterol; 2 g carbohydrate; 1 g protein; 0 g fiber; 56 mg sodium; 11 mg potassium.
• 0 Carbohydrate Servings
• Exchanges: 1/2 fat
• MAKE AHEAD TIP: Prepare through Step 1 and refrigerate for up to 4 hours.
• From www.eatingwell.com with permission. 2009 Eating Well Inc. Photo by Ken Burris

HERBED BROWN GRAVY

Steps:

• In a large saucepan over medium high heat, heat the olive oil and sauté the onions, carrots, and celery until golden brown, about 4-5 minutes.
• Add the garlic, herbs, salt and pepper and stir well.
• Stir the flour into the vegetables and stir to coat them.
• Whisk in the chicken stock, making sure to keep lumps from forming.
• Add the bay leaf and the Kitchen Bouquet and reduce the heat to medium low.
• Let the gravy simmer for 10-15 minutes, until thickened.
• Strain through a fine-meshed strainer and discard vegetables.

HERBED TURKEY GRAVY

Steps:

• Pour drippings and loosened browned bits into a 2-cup measuring cup. Skim fat, reserving 1/4 cup. Add enough broth to the drippings to measure 2 cups. , In a small saucepan, combine flour and reserved fat until smooth. Gradually stir in the drippings mixture. Stir in the thyme, sage and pepper. Bring to a boil; cook and stir until thickened, about 2 minutes.

HERBED PUMPKIN GRAVY

Steps:

• Stir oats into 3 cups water in a saucepan; bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook at a simmer until the oats are tender and the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes.
• Stir 2 cups hot water into the cooked oats. Strain water to use as 'oat broth' into a large sauce pan. Save cooked oats for another use.
• Stir pumpkin puree, sugar, herbes de Provence, salt, black pepper, and garlic powder into the oat broth with a whisk until smooth; add olive oil and stir to combine. Thin the gravy with more hot water, if desired. Place the saucepan over medium heat, bring the gravy to a simmer, and cook until hot, about 10 minutes.

VEGAN HERB GRAVY

Steps:

• Combine water, olive oil, chives, thyme, rosemary, basil, parsley, oregano, tomato paste, cornstarch, vegetable base, garlic, salt, and pepper in a blender. Blend until smooth.
• Pour mixture into a saucepan and bring to a rapid boil for 1 minute.

HERBED PORK ROAST WITH GRAVY

Steps:

• Combine brown sugar and seasonings; rub over roast. Place roast, fat side up, on a rack in a roasting pan. Bake, uncovered, at 325° for 2 hours or until a thermometer reads 160°. , Remove roast from pan. Pour pan drippings into a large measuring cup; add water to measure 2 cups. Place flour in a small saucepan; stir in pan drippings until blended. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Serve gravy with roast. Freeze option: Place sliced roast in freezer containers; top with gravy. Cool and freeze. To use, partially thaw in refrigerator overnight. Microwave, covered, on high in a microwave-safe dish until heated through, gently stirring and adding a little water if necessary.

CLASSIC ROAST TURKEY WITH HERBED STUFFING AND OLD-FASHIONED GRAVY

Steps:

• Place oven rack in lowest position and preheat oven to 325°F. Butter 8-inch square baking dish or 2-quart casserole. Lightly brush roasting rack with vegetable oil and place in roasting pan.
• Remove plastic or paper packet of giblets from turkey (usually in small cavity). Remove from packaging and rinse; reserve gizzard and heart; discard floppy, dark purple liver. Remove neck from large cavity. Remove from packaging, rinse, and reserve. Using tweezers or needlenose pliers, remove any feathers and quills still attached to skin (kosher turkeys tend to require this more than others). Pull off and reserve any visible pale yellow knobs of fat from either side of tail (not found on all birds).
• Rinse turkey inside and out with cold water and pat dry. Loosely fill small (neck) cavity with stuffing. Fold neck skin under body and fasten with metal skewer. Loosely fill large body cavity with stuffing. Transfer remaining stuffing to buttered dish and drizzle with 1/4 cup stock. Cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate until ready to bake.
• Transfer turkey, breast-side up, to rack in roasting pan. Tuck wing tips under breast and tie drumsticks loosely together with kitchen string. Rub turkey all over with softened butter and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Tightly cover breast area with foil, leaving wings, thighs, and drumsticks exposed.
• Transfer gizzard, heart, neck, and reserved turkey fat to roasting pan around rack. Pour 2 cups stock into pan.
• Roast turkey 45 minutes. Baste with pan juices (lift up foil to reach breast area) and continue roasting, basting every 45 minutes, 1 1/2 hours more (2 1/4 hours total). Baste again and, if pan juices have evaporated into glaze, add 1 cup stock to pan. Roast another 45 minutes (3 hours total). Remove foil from breast area, baste, and add stock if necessary, until instant-read thermometer inserted into fleshy part of thigh (close to but not touching bone) registers 180°F, about 1 hour more (4 hours total).
• Insert instant-read thermometer into center of stuffing in body cavity. If thermometer does not read 165°F, transfer stuffing to microwave-safe baking dish and microwave on high until 165°F, about 3 minutes for 10 degrees. Cover and keep warm. Using turkey holders (or by inserting large metal serving spoon into body cavity), transfer turkey to large serving platter. Let stand 30 minutes before carving.
• Meanwhile, bake extra stuffing and make gravy: Raise oven temperature to 350°F. Remove giblets and neck from roasting pan and discard. Pour pan juices into measuring cup or gravy separator. Let stand until fat rises to top, 1 to 2 minutes, then skim off and reserve fat or, if using separator, carefully pour juices into measuring cup, reserving fat left in separator.
• Transfer foil-covered dish of extra stuffing to oven and bake 10 minutes. Meanwhile, add enough remaining stock to pan juices to total 4 cups. Measure turkey fat, adding melted butter if necessary to total 6 tablespoons. Straddle roasting pan across 2 burners on moderate heat and add fat. Whisk in flour, scraping up browned bits on bottom of pan, then cook, whisking constantly, 1 minute. Whisk in pan juice-stock mixture and bring to a boil, whisking often. Reduce heat to moderately low and simmer, whisking occasionally, until gravy thickens, about 5 minutes. Whisk in remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and keep warm. (Gravy can be kept warm over very low heat, covered, up to 20 minutes. If it thickens, thin with additional stock before serving. If skin forms on top, whisk well to dissolve.)
• When extra stuffing has baked 10 minutes, remove foil and bake, uncovered, until heated through, about 10 minutes. Pour gravy through fine-mesh sieve into large bowl, then transfer to gravy boat. Carve turkey and serve gravy and stuffing alongside.
• Test-Kitchen Tips:
• •To combat dryness, most frozen turkeys and some fresh are injected with a saline solution. This is not a good thing, though: Injected birds generally lack flavor and can have a mushy texture. For this reason, we recommend buying a fresh turkey and checking the label to be sure there aren't any additives. (Look for the words "all natural.") Don't be too concerned, though, with the many other terms that can be applied to turkeys, such as free-range, organic, or heritage. All can be excellent.
• •When buying a fresh bird, be sure to purchase it no more than two days before Thanksgiving. If you must get a frozen bird, defrost it in the refrigerator in a pan to catch drips, allowing a full 24 hours for each 5 pounds.
• •Warm, moist stuffing is an optimal environment for bacteria such as salmonella or E. coli to multiply, so it's important to follow safe procedures. Be sure to make the stuffing at the last minute so it can go into the bird warm. This helps it move above the "danger zone" (the optimal temperature range for bacteria growth) more quickly during roasting. When you remove the turkey from the oven, be sure to check the temperature in the middle of the stuffing to make sure it's 165°F, the temperature at which bacteria will be killed. If it's not 165°F, scoop it out of the cavity and microwave it as directed in the recipe.
• •More stuffing tips: Be sure not to overpack the cavities, as the stuffing will expand during cooking. Loosely fill the turkey, then spread the extra in a casserole dish (no more than 2 inches deep) and bake it after the turkey comes out (be sure to refrigerate it until then to impede bacteria growth). Drizzle the portion in the casserole dish with extra stock to make up for the juices it won't get from the turkey. If you want the stuffing that's cooked inside the turkey to be extra-moist (as opposed to having a crisp crust where it's exposed), cover the exposed portion with a small piece of aluminum foil.
• •Opinions vary on whether or not to stuff the bird-some people think it can cause uneven cooking. If you prefer not to stuff your bird, fill the cavities with a chopped vegetable and herb mixture that will impart its flavor to the meat and pan juices: Chop 1 onion, 1 celery rib with leaves, 1 carrot, and 3 tablespoons fresh parsley. Mix this with 1 teaspoon each dried rosemary, sage, and thyme. Sprinkle the cavities with salt and freshly ground black pepper and place the mixture inside. An unstuffed bird will take about 15 minutes to a half hour less to cook than a stuffed bird. When the turkey is cooked, tilt it to allow any juices that have collected in the cavity to drain into the pan. Do not serve the vegetable mixture, as it may not have cooked to a safe temperature.
• •This recipe can easily be scaled up to serve more people. Estimate about 1 to 1 1/2 pounds per person. Cooking times (for a stuffed bird, cooked at 325°F to an internal temperature of 180°F) will be as follows: 8 to 12 pounds: 3 to 3 1/2 hours 12 to 14 pounds: 3 1/2 to 4 hours 14 to 18 pounds: 4 to 4 1/4 hours 18 to 20 pounds: 4 1/4 to 4 3/4 hours 20 to 24 pounds: 4 3/4 to 5 1/4 hours
• •Some experts prefer to cook their turkeys to an internal temperature of 170°F (rather than 180°F, as in this recipe). If you don't mind having the meat slightly pink, this is perfectly safe and makes it more moist. However, Rick Rodgers, who created this recipe, believes that the dark meat in particular does not achieve its optimum flavor and texture until it reaches 180°F. If you choose to stuff your turkey and cook it to only 170°F, its stuffing will almost definitely not reach the safe temperature of 165°F. When you remove the turkey from the oven, be sure to check the temperature in the center of the stuffing, and if necessary remove it and microwave it as directed in the recipe.
• •Letting the turkey stand for half an hour after it comes out of the oven is an essential part of the roasting process. When meat roasts, its juices move to the outer edge of the flesh. Letting it rest gives the juices time to redistribute, making for a moister turkey. An added bonus: The resting time provides an excellent window of opportunity to make the gravy and reheat the side dishes. There's no need to cover the bird-it'll stay warm enough, and covering it would only soften the crispy skin.

HOMEMADE CHICKEN POT PIE WITH HERBED GRAVY

Steps:

• Slice carrots into thin discs, boil in water until soft.
• Put broccoli into colander, pour hot carrots and water over broccoli. This will steam the broccoli till just tender while draining the carrots. Set aside.
• Cut chicken breast into 1/4" cubes. Saute in oil until no longer pink.
• Put chicken, broccoli and carrots into 8-9" deep dish pie plate and stir to mix up.
• To make gravy, saute onion and garlic in butter. Add flour, stir to mix well.
• Remove from heat, add chicken broth, milk, salt and pepper. Return to medium-high heat, and bring to a boil for about 2 minutes.
• Remove from heat, add rosemary and fat free half and half.
• Pour gravy over vegetables. Carefully put pie crust over top, pinch edges and cut out a couple of round holes in top of crust for ventilation. Gently brush egg beaters (or beaten egg) lightly over entire crust.
• Bake in preheated oven at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Then turn oven down to 350 degrees and bake another 30 minutes.