Incredible Roasted Vegetable Au jus
 

For those of you that are avoiding meat this holiday season, here's a real simple way to make an amazing au jus sauce without using any meat.

Set the oven at 400 degrees f.

On a big sheet pan, dribble some olive oil, add, a couple of chopped onions and a chopped carrot. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add about a cup of veggy broth, a half cup of tomato sauce, a little white, or red wine and a couple splashes worcestershire sauce, (vegan, if you can find it.) Remove from oven, cool slightly, add some warm water to the pan and scrape with a wooden spoon to dislodge all of the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Strain into a saute pan. You can actually do this a couple of times with the contents in the sheet pan. (If you don't want to go totally vegan, you can also add some, "Better Than Bouillion" Beef concentrate to the mix.) The mixture that you're left in the pan may be quite salty, so you'll have to add more broth, or possibly some water to tone it down. I also like to add some herbs s/a rosemary, or thyme. However you go with it, you'll find that the flavor is complex and absolutely delicious!!!

This method can also be used to make the base for a non-vegan, roast beef, turkey, or chicken au jus.

Happy Holidays to all!!!!!

~ C

Yum...this sounds good. :)
How long do you roast at 400 degrees?

Hummm...I don't have an exact time. I would guess around 15-20 mins. You want all of the liquid to evaporate and turn a dark brown, but not black (aka burnt.) Then scrape the bottom of the sheet pan, get all of those brown bits into the saute pan. I usually use a coarse strainer that catches the larger, veggies, but lets the good stuff go through.

~ C

Wonderful! It's great to find creative holiday recipes without meat! Thanks for sharing!

Great tip.