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tuftearsI was browsing the web for substitutes that could be used to make tastier gravy and hit upon an interesting idea: blended vegetables. I'd seen vegetable purees before but they never seemed that relevant as side dishes. They had virtually no texture, making them boring to eat.
But... What if I used them as gravies?
First up, we have basic meatballs made with a mix of ground beef and turkey, seasoned with crushed black pepper for the beef and Trader Joe's 21-seasoning-salute for the ground turkey. I made the gravy with steamed carrots and celery flavored with garlic and salt, and caramelized onions, then blended them with chicken stock to get it to a pourable texture.
It tasted pretty good! The gravy looks unlovely, but it's quite mild, sweet yet savory. I thought about adding curry powder to make it a Japanese curry... Well, you'll see the results of that thought shortly.
Second, we have my typical stirfry of ground turkey, tomatoes, celery, and caramelized onions (again). Except this time, I pureed the tomatoes and celery together, leaving the onions and the meat the actually intact ingredients.
Pretty good, but I don't think there's a real need to waste time pureeing the veggies here. The only real benefit is that it removes the need to add chicken stock and cornstarch to thicken the sauce. Which is, granted, a health benefit.
And here we have... "Japanese curry style" veggie gravy on a chicken katsu, with rice pilaf! This was definitely a great tasting gravy, even if (again) it doesn't look all that appealing. The ingredients were:
* One sweet onion, chopped and caramelized
* 1/2 pound of carrots and 10 ounces of green bell peppers, steamed
* One serving of applesauce, about 1/4 cup
* 1 teaspoon of chopped ginger, or substitute powdered ginger if you want
* A sprinkling of crushed red pepper
* 2 teaspoons of curry powder
* 1 teaspoon of chili powder
* About a tablespoon or two of honey
This made generous portions of gravy for four servings. Pour it all over the chicken katsu and the rice, then eat it all, it's non-fat! Mwahaha!
On the downside, this was also an experiment at making chicken katsu and uh, that wasn't quite as good-- it reinforced my suspicion that I could just make Trader Joe's breaded chicken and use that, rather than spending a lot of time breading my own chicken. I'll have to ponder how to do better.
One problem I noticed was that I had opted to freeze the chicken pieces and then fry them up in a pan when needed. The panko wound up being softened by the egg layer around the chicken, so it became a flat layer of carbs around the chicken rather than the nice flakey layer of breading we all know and love. Perhaps I should have frozen the chicken on a sheet, then vacuum sealed it only after it had been frozen, rather than vacuum sealing it immediately.
Another problem was that the pieces were pretty thick, which meant it took a relatively long time to cook. Thinner pieces would be easier to cut and chew, likely. And Trader Joe's chicken cooks up nice and tender in the oven so it wins on taste.
Edit to add: the following week, I baked the chicken, which was MUCH easier. 425F, 30 mins, works out perfectly!
Still, vegetable puree gravies have definitely won a place on my menu. It's hard to go wrong with practically non-fat gravies that are 90% veggies!
But... What if I used them as gravies?
First up, we have basic meatballs made with a mix of ground beef and turkey, seasoned with crushed black pepper for the beef and Trader Joe's 21-seasoning-salute for the ground turkey. I made the gravy with steamed carrots and celery flavored with garlic and salt, and caramelized onions, then blended them with chicken stock to get it to a pourable texture.
It tasted pretty good! The gravy looks unlovely, but it's quite mild, sweet yet savory. I thought about adding curry powder to make it a Japanese curry... Well, you'll see the results of that thought shortly.
Second, we have my typical stirfry of ground turkey, tomatoes, celery, and caramelized onions (again). Except this time, I pureed the tomatoes and celery together, leaving the onions and the meat the actually intact ingredients.
Pretty good, but I don't think there's a real need to waste time pureeing the veggies here. The only real benefit is that it removes the need to add chicken stock and cornstarch to thicken the sauce. Which is, granted, a health benefit.
And here we have... "Japanese curry style" veggie gravy on a chicken katsu, with rice pilaf! This was definitely a great tasting gravy, even if (again) it doesn't look all that appealing. The ingredients were:
* One sweet onion, chopped and caramelized
* 1/2 pound of carrots and 10 ounces of green bell peppers, steamed
* One serving of applesauce, about 1/4 cup
* 1 teaspoon of chopped ginger, or substitute powdered ginger if you want
* A sprinkling of crushed red pepper
* 2 teaspoons of curry powder
* 1 teaspoon of chili powder
* About a tablespoon or two of honey
This made generous portions of gravy for four servings. Pour it all over the chicken katsu and the rice, then eat it all, it's non-fat! Mwahaha!
On the downside, this was also an experiment at making chicken katsu and uh, that wasn't quite as good-- it reinforced my suspicion that I could just make Trader Joe's breaded chicken and use that, rather than spending a lot of time breading my own chicken. I'll have to ponder how to do better.
One problem I noticed was that I had opted to freeze the chicken pieces and then fry them up in a pan when needed. The panko wound up being softened by the egg layer around the chicken, so it became a flat layer of carbs around the chicken rather than the nice flakey layer of breading we all know and love. Perhaps I should have frozen the chicken on a sheet, then vacuum sealed it only after it had been frozen, rather than vacuum sealing it immediately.
Another problem was that the pieces were pretty thick, which meant it took a relatively long time to cook. Thinner pieces would be easier to cut and chew, likely. And Trader Joe's chicken cooks up nice and tender in the oven so it wins on taste.
Edit to add: the following week, I baked the chicken, which was MUCH easier. 425F, 30 mins, works out perfectly!
Still, vegetable puree gravies have definitely won a place on my menu. It's hard to go wrong with practically non-fat gravies that are 90% veggies!
