Sticky Port gravy
This full-flavoured, festive gravy you can made in advance – our secret ingredients of soy sauce and dried mushrooms add a deep hit of ‘umami’, or savouriness, a final touch to a roast.
- Prep: 25 mins
- Cook: 1 hr and 30 mins
- Easy
- Serves: 8 persons
Ingredients
Sticky Port gravy method
Step: 1 Turn oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Tip the turkey bits and/or chicken wings into a well-made roasting tin with the onions, carrot, celery and garlic. Sling in the oil and set out into a single layer. Put in the oven for about 40 mins undisturbed – just burn the right side of them, as this will give you lots of flavour.
Step: 2 Take out the tin from the oven and mix in the honey, soy sauce and tomato purée. Twist everything together until all the bits are fully coated after that return to the oven for 10 mins until sticky and caramelised. Take out the tin from the oven again, dust over the flour and dried mushrooms (if using) and place back in the oven for a final 10 mins.
Step: 3 If your roasting tin is flameproof, place it on a low flame, add the vinegar and fry for a moment. Spill in the Port and cook until you have a thick, glutinous paste assorted with all the ingredients – it may look quite messy! Add the stock and herbs, let it boil and cook for about 10 mins. (If your tin isn’t flameproof, add the vinegar, stir to slacken all the burnt bits from the tin, and after that tip into a saucepan to continue.)
Step: 4 Remove from the heat and use a potato masher to mash everything to press and extract out as much flavour as you can. Gently pass the contents through a sieve over into another saucepan, pushing down on the contents of the sieve. Cook gently the gravy until thick and glossy, and then leave it to cool. (This can be chilled for up to 3 days or frozen for up to about 2 months). Reheat the gravy and serve as it is, or you can add to the turkey roasting juices for even more flavour.
