Reader Question – Vegetarian Gravy

This week’s question comes from Kerry Dexter, a serious music fan and dedicated vegetarian. She’s looking for a low-fat, low-sodium gravy that doesn’t rely on animal stock. And to make things more a challenge, she has no food processor or blender so you can’t just puree a bunch of vegetables and call it gravy.

I was going to offer up a mushroom recipe, but apparently fungus is expensive where she lives. Rats! I love any excuse to cook with mushrooms.

While I have lots of experience with gravy, it’s always based on pan drippings from a roast. So, can anyone help Kerry out? She writes:

I’d like ideas for a vegetarian gravy that I could make without using a food processor or a blender or the like, because I don’t own any of those things. I know mushrooms are a common ingredient, and I’d be interested in hearing about that, but they can be rather pricey around here, so I was thinking perhaps something based on caramelized onions, or maybe butternut squash, as well? I tend to use a light hand with both salt and fats in cooking, too.

We’d be serving it with/over things like rice, potatoes, green beans, broccoli, corn, other sorts beans — black, red, lima, green peas and so forth.

While you put your thinking caps on, take a few minutes to check out the photos from today’s photographer, Ben30. He went to Whistler and saw bobcats! I went to Whistler and saw $7.00 cappuccinos and designer sunglasses. Some people have all the luck.

Photo © Ben30. Published under a Creative Commons License.