Roast Garlic Vegan Gravy

Raw garlic is sharp and aggressive. Roasted whole in its skins for an hour it turns into something soft, sweet and almost nutty, with none of the burn. That transformation is what makes this gravy work. Nutritional yeast and a little soy sauce supply the savoury weight the garlic on its own cannot.

Ingredients

Makes about 550ml, five servings

• 2 bulbs garlic
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp (30g) plain flour
• 650ml (1 1/8 pints) hot vegetable stock
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• salt and black pepper

Kit

• Small roasting tin
• Foil
• Saucepan
• Stick blender

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200C, 180C fan, gas 6. Slice the tops off both garlic bulbs to expose the cloves, sit them in a small tin, drizzle with one tablespoon of the oil, season and wrap the tin tightly in foil.

2. Roast for 50 minutes until the cloves are completely soft and golden and squeeze out like paste. If they still feel firm give them another ten minutes, because underdone garlic will taste harsh in the gravy.

3. While that happens, heat the rest of the oil in a saucepan and cook the onion over a medium heat for 10 minutes until soft and properly golden, with brown edges.

4. Squeeze all the roasted garlic out of its skins into the pan, mashing it against the base with a wooden spoon so it melts into the onions.

5. Stir in the flour and the nutritional yeast and cook for two minutes, stirring, until the flakes smell toasty and the mixture looks like a thick paste.

6. Add the hot stock a ladle at a time, whisking well after each, then drop in the rosemary sprigs and simmer for 10 minutes until thickened and smooth.

7. Fish out the rosemary and blitz the gravy briefly with a stick blender for a silky finish. Stir in the soy sauce and lemon juice, season and serve.

Tips worth knowing

• Roast the garlic while the oven is on for something else. It costs nothing in energy and keeps in the fridge for a week.
• Whole roasted garlic freezes brilliantly. Squeeze the cloves into an ice cube tray and you have a head start on this gravy any time.
• The lemon juice at the end is small but important. Roasted garlic is sweet and slightly heavy, and acid lifts it.
• If your garlic has green shoots through the middle of the cloves, pick them out before roasting, as they turn bitter.

Keeping and reheating

Four days in the fridge and three months in the freezer. The garlic flavour actually strengthens overnight, so make it ahead if anything.

Questions people ask