Mushroom-Miso-Mustard Gravy

Preparation 1. Melt the butter and olive oil together in a large skillet, well sprayed with cooking spray, over medium heat for about 1 minute. Add the onion and sauté, stirring often, for about 4 minutes, or until the onion begins to soften. Raise the heat slightly and add the mushroom caps. Continue cooking, stirring often, for 5 to 6 minutes more. 2. Pour the vegetable stock into a medium saucepan or Dutch oven, preferably nonstick, and warm over medium-low heat. 3. Pour the wine into a food processor and add the garlic, flour, golden miso, dark miso, nutritional yeast, and mustard. Buzz together to form a paste. 4. Whisk the paste into the warmed, but not hot, vegetable stock. Gently bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Take a ladleful of this liquid and swirl it into the sautéed mushroom mixture, stirring well to scrape up any little flavorful bits from the bottom of the skillet. Add the mushrooms, onions, and liquid to the pot with the stock, scraping the sauté pan clean. 5. Reduce the heat to very low and let the sauce simmer very gently, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes. Correct the seasonings with salt (you'll need little, if any, since miso is salty) and a lot of pepper. Serve hot, ladled over whatever good thing you are serving. Crescent Dragonwagon shares her tips with Epicurious:• To make "Better," Dragonwagon combines in a food processor: 1 pound salted butter at room temperature, 2 1/2 cups macadamia nut, almond, or avocado oil, and 1 3/4 teaspoons fine sea salt, or more to taste. She puts the mixture into 3 or 4 ramekins, refrigerating one and freezing the rest. It's just as delicious as butter, but more healthful, easier to spread, and better for sautéing because its smoking point is higher than that of plain butter. • If you don't have time to make your own vegetable stock, Dragonwagon recommends the dark vegetable stock by Kitchen Basics. Packaged or homemade, these stocks are certainly healthier than meat stocks, but as Dragonwagon notes in Passionate Vegetarian, a high-quality vegetable stock does not sacrifice flavor: "It is good stock that underpins the glossy, piquant, sweet, or hot sauces that transform tofu, tempeh, and seitan from plain basics to genuinely satisfying dishes that speak cogently of abundance, not deprivation or blandness for the sake of health." • Miso is a soft, highly concentrated, soy-based seasoning paste, and a standard item in Japanese kitchens. Generally, darker misos have a stronger, heartier, and saltier flavor than the more delicate and sweeter white misos. Miso is available in Asian markets and natural food stores. • Nutritional yeast is a savory molasses-fed yeast that's rich in B-complex vitamins and protein. It is widely available in bulk at natural food stores. Reprinted with permission from Passionate Vegetarian by Crescent Dragonwagon ©2002 Workman Publishing Company, Inc.

Preparation 1. Melt the butter and olive oil together in a large skillet, well sprayed with cooking spray, over medium heat for about 1 minute. Add the onion and sauté, stirring often, for about 4 minutes, or until the onion begins to soften. Raise the heat slightly and add the mushroom caps. Continue cooking, stirring often, for 5 to 6 minutes more. 2. Pour the vegetable stock into a medium saucepan or Dutch oven, preferably nonstick, and warm over medium-low heat. 3. Pour the wine into a food processor and add the garlic, flour, golden miso, dark miso, nutritional yeast, and mustard. Buzz together to form a paste. 4. Whisk the paste into the warmed, but not hot, vegetable stock. Gently bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Take a ladleful of this liquid and swirl it into the sautéed mushroom mixture, stirring well to scrape up any little flavorful bits from the bottom of the skillet. Add the mushrooms, onions, and liquid to the pot with the stock, scraping the sauté pan clean. 5. Reduce the heat to very low and let the sauce simmer very gently, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes. Correct the seasonings with salt (you'll need little, if any, since miso is salty) and a lot of pepper. Serve hot, ladled over whatever good thing you are serving. Crescent Dragonwagon shares her tips with Epicurious:• To make "Better," Dragonwagon combines in a food processor: 1 pound salted butter at room temperature, 2 1/2 cups macadamia nut, almond, or avocado oil, and 1 3/4 teaspoons fine sea salt, or more to taste. She puts the mixture into 3 or 4 ramekins, refrigerating one and freezing the rest. It's just as delicious as butter, but more healthful, easier to spread, and better for sautéing because its smoking point is higher than that of plain butter. • If you don't have time to make your own vegetable stock, Dragonwagon recommends the dark vegetable stock by Kitchen Basics. Packaged or homemade, these stocks are certainly healthier than meat stocks, but as Dragonwagon notes in Passionate Vegetarian, a high-quality vegetable stock does not sacrifice flavor: "It is good stock that underpins the glossy, piquant, sweet, or hot sauces that transform tofu, tempeh, and seitan from plain basics to genuinely satisfying dishes that speak cogently of abundance, not deprivation or blandness for the sake of health." • Miso is a soft, highly concentrated, soy-based seasoning paste, and a standard item in Japanese kitchens. Generally, darker misos have a stronger, heartier, and saltier flavor than the more delicate and sweeter white misos. Miso is available in Asian markets and natural food stores. • Nutritional yeast is a savory molasses-fed yeast that's rich in B-complex vitamins and protein. It is widely available in bulk at natural food stores. Reprinted with permission from Passionate Vegetarian by Crescent Dragonwagon ©2002 Workman Publishing Company, Inc.