Whenever I buy a 10 pound bag of potatoes, it is always with the best intentions. I am going to make mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, and try out those 6 recipes from the latest Gordon Ramsey video. I usually will make one item, and then forget about them. When I finally remember them (several weeks later), a couple have started to shrivel, and now I need to eat 9 pounds of potatoes; NOW. Usually this means a huge batch of mashed potatoes, and the leftovers become baked potato soup (YUMMM!!!). However, for the mashed potatoes, nothing is more satisfying and impressive than a homemade creamy garlicky amazing homemade gravy that only takes a few minutes to make. This is my favorite gravy for potatoes, pork, chicken pot pie, you name it! And without further delay…..
Red Onion & Mushroom Gravy
1/2c diced red onion
1/2 c chopped mushrooms
1/4 c butter
1 Tbl minced garlic
2 Tbl flour
1 cup milk (up to 2 cups may be needed)
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 Tbl Steak seasoning/rub
Salt and pepper to taste
Place the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, and begin to melt. Add red onions, and cook until they begin to become translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Add diced mushrooms, and cook 1-2 minutes, until they start to become soft. Add the garlic, and cook for about 30 seconds. Then add your flour. The flour needs to coat everything very quickly; you want all of the flour to become moistened. The flour should cook in the pan while you are coating everything, but make sure it doesn’t go without the milk for longer than about 30 seconds to keep it from burning (this is called a rue). Add 1 cup of milk, and get everything well mixed. Get anything from the bottom and sides of the pan, and you should not see any lumps. Also make sure to check the spoon, as I tend to get some that sticks there. Add salt and pepper to taste (I would start around 1/2 tsp each, but I also have been known to add some Cayenne pepper to add some extra POW), as well as Italian seasoning, and some kind of a steak seasoning or rub (I really like A1’s steak seasoning). Stir this all together. The sauce will be thin, but allow it to simmer for just a couple of minutes while you continue to stir, and it will start to thicken. At this point, I add additional milk as needed to get the consistency that I am looking for; sometimes as much as double. Make sure to TASTE your gravy, and add extra salt and pepper as needed. When reheating, you can always add milk if your gravy has gotten a bit to thick. Voila!
