Spring Onion Gravy

Spring onions are usually a garnish and it is a waste. Cook the white parts properly and they behave like tiny sweet onions, then throw the greens in at the end and you get a gravy that tastes of spring rather than November. This is the one for grilled chicken, lamb chops or a plate of new potatoes and butter in April when a heavy brown gravy would feel wrong.

Ingredients

Makes about 400ml, enough for four plates

• 2 bunches (about 200g / 7oz) spring onions whites sliced 5mm, greens sliced separately
• 30g (1oz) butter
• 1 garlic clove finely sliced
• 450ml (16fl oz) hot chicken stock use a gluten free stock
• 1 tbsp cornflour slaked in 2 tbsp cold water
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• salt and black pepper

Kit

• Frying pan
• Small bowl

Method

1. Melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat and add the spring onion whites with a pinch of salt. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring, until they are soft and just starting to take a little gold at the edges. They are far smaller than onion slices so they cook in a fraction of the time.

2. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more, only until it smells sweet. Garlic burns in seconds in a pan this hot, and burnt garlic ruins a light gravy.

3. Pour in the hot stock, bring it to a simmer and let it bubble gently for 5 minutes so the onion flavour gets into the liquid.

4. Stir the cornflour paste until completely smooth, then pour it into the simmering pan in a thin stream, stirring as you go. It will thicken and turn glossy within half a minute. Simmer for 2 more minutes.

5. Take the pan off the heat and stir in about two thirds of the spring onion greens. The residual heat is enough to soften them without turning them khaki, which is what happens if you boil them.

6. Add the lemon juice, season, and scatter the remaining raw greens over the gravy just before it goes to the table for a bit of bite and colour.

Tips worth knowing

• The greens go in off the heat. Boil them and you get a dull olive gravy that tastes stewed, which is the opposite of what this recipe is for.
• Slice the whites on a slight angle. It looks better and gives you slightly bigger pieces that hold their shape.
• This is genuinely a twenty minute gravy, unlike most so called quick ones, because spring onions do not need caramelising.
• It is gluten free as written, provided you check the stock, since cornflour does all the thickening.

Keeping and reheating

Best eaten fresh, since the greens lose their colour on standing. It will keep 2 days in the fridge. Reheat gently and stir in a handful of fresh greens at the end to bring it back to life. Not worth freezing.

Questions people ask