This is not a revolutionary recipe. It is not a complicated recipe. It is a fast recipe for anyone who likes gravy but can't be bothered to make it.
Since I am writing this post you can correctly assume that I am a gravy person. It doesn't matter whether we're talking about brown gravy, white, an au jus, or tomato sauce. If I can put it on my food and then in my mouth, I'm a fan.
But we don't often make gravy with our meals because it takes time. And by we I mean you and I because I think I can speak for all of us when I say we love gravy.
But making it is the last step, the finishing touch, the thing you do after the dinner is actually made. And most of the time after the dinner is made you just want to eat it and get cleaned up. And the thought of stopping that to make gravy ... IS A RIDICULOUS THOUGHT.
And then you scarf your dinner all down without gravy.
The next time you make chicken breasts try this.
Sour Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- Pan drippings
- Sour Cream
- Dijon Mustard
- Broth
Instructions
After you've cooked your chicken in a pan you just have to add a couple of things to it to create a complex tasting sauce that's done before the chicken cools down.
Remove your cooked chicken from the pan.
With the heat still on the pan, add chicken stock (about ½ cup) and scrape up the fond (cooked, browned, delicious bits on bottom of pan).
Scrape up and mix all the fond with the broth.
Drop 1-2 tablespoons of sour cream into the mix.
It'll look awful and you'll suspect this isn't going to work. It will. Keep stirring. The sour cream just needs to melt.
See?
Add 1-2 tablespoons of dijon mustard & any herbs you want. I added dill.
Mix to incorporate. Add more broth if needed. Simmer to reduce by a bit if it isn't thick enough or flavourful enough.
When in doubt add a big grind of pepper.
Also when in doubt, MAKE POTATO PANCAKES.
If you were wondering if I overcooked my first picked batch of asparagus, the answer is a resounding yes. I oven roasted the asparagus. And forgot about it. I also overcooked the chicken - a very common occurrence for me which could be what's behind my love of gravy and sauces.
Sour Cream Sauce
A quick sour cream pan sauce for chicken that you can make in minutes.
Ingredients
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1-2 tablespoons sour cream
- 1-2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- fresh chopped dill (or another herb you like)
Instructions
- After pan cooking chicken, deglaze the pan with ½ cup of chicken broth.
- Whisk in 2 tablespoons of sour cream and 2 tablespoons of dijon mustard.
- Add remaining broth and reduce slightly, adding chopped dill at the end.
- Season as needed with salt and pepper.
Notes
Don't forget that chicken broth gets saltier as it reduces so don't add salt until you know the final sauce needs it.
NOT JUST FOR CHICKEN
You can do this little trick with any meat. The sour cream replaces flour and water for thickening, and dijon gives a KICK.
A few nights ago for instance, I made a quick sour cream sauce for the Danish frikadeller I made.
If you're not sure whether to believe my love of gravy I'll remind you I did eat french fries and gravy every single day for lunch in high school.
I'm going to make this soon--my husband is always vocally disappointed if a meal doesn't include some sort of sauce.
Sauce really is super with supper. ;) ~ karen!
is there a recipe for Danish frikadeller
No, I've never posted that recipe Susan. Maybe in the future. The potato pancakes with homemade chili sauce is good though. ~ karen!
As a fellow gravy fiend ( who wants dry food ?) may I suggest the addition of a splash of white wine added to the pan when stirring up the "bits" ?
You may! I make a quick red wine pan sauce that's similar to what I've shown here But ... ya ... with red wine, lol. White with grainy/dijon and chicken broth is also SO good. Honestly you've asked the perfect question - Who DOES want dry food?? ~ karen!
"Who DOES want dry food?? ~"
Dad. That would be dad. 😁
(He once put a turkey breast in the crockpot for 21 or 23 hours. SO Dry! I keep telling him, "poultry only needs around 6 hours. SIX." He has also been known to make crunchy burgers. Black, crunchy, burgers. *sigh* It has taken MANY years, but he is Slowly getting better. Especially after he recently accidentally only cooked the bird for 6 1/2 hours, and it was Good! He was so surprised. Lol!)
Mmmmmm Gravy! And without the fuss! We love you
We love you too. ~ karen!
You're a frikadeller genius! I will be trying this the next time I cook. Which might be today, might be next week.
All of these easy ideas sound great. One of my decadent gravies takes a bit longer: I carmelize onions for 45 minutes or so, then add cream (and pepper). Let it thicken.
Meanwhile, never had frikadeller (although have had meatballs). Suspect it's good with carmelized onion...
you can carmelize onions in a slow cooker and always have them on hand
-Submit comment- click! "Your comment has been marked as spam." Umm, what now?
The saying in our house is "...Gravy is *not* a beverage!" Thank you so much for helping out with my cooking challenges. I'm always needing shortcuts.
I've been doing a balsamic/honey or soya sauce/rice vinegar pan sauce - same level of effort, different flavour so it seems like a whole different meal depending on whether I've got mashed potatoes or rice/soba noodles with the meat.
Woah! Ingenious! I always have sour cream and hate the lumps flour leaves.
I Afrikaans we also have frikadelle! Didn't know it was also a Danish thing....
I meant to say "in Afrikaans.."
I learned and was surprised by that a few nights ago! I was actually looking up how other people make frikadeller because I know our family makes it a bit different than most and discovered the fact. ~ karen!
ooooh, we've been subbing yogurt for just about anything sour cream...'cuz we have yogurt in the house all the time and rarely sour cream. Do you think yogurt would work for your gravy?
Hi Carla! It should, but the higher fat yogurts, like Greek would be best. I swap yogourt and sour cream all the time in other things too. :) ~ karen!
Ah yes, I'm learning to make cheese (started with learning yogurt). I have skipped over the learning to make sour cream lesson since our goats' milk doesn't (easily) give us cream. Thank you for the perspective that sour cream is a higher fat addition than yogurt. Altho, our goats' milk is testing at 12-19% butterfat so I think our yogurt is pretty high in fat and should work nicely in that regard. Sahweet!
My cooking arsenal includes Kitchen Bouquet and Better Than Bouillon beef and chicken base. Great reinforcements for most all gravy battles. I'm of Polish ancestry so gravy is just below my food pyramid peak - butter.
I too have Kitchen Bouquet! I believe the cap is permanently stuck now but I have used it. ~ karen!
That looks good! I made pork loin tonight. It was so good!
I did 2 loin slices, each about 1 1/2 inches thick. I salted and peppered them, then quickly sizzled them in a skillet and transferred them to a baking dish.
Then in the skillet, I added 3 tablespoons of butter, lots of crushed garlic, and mixed herbs. I swizzled it around to get up all the browned bits, stirred in a sizable spoonful of Dijon mustard, and then about 1/2+ cup of chicken broth. Once it was all combined, I poured it over the pork and baked it (covered) for 20 min. It took no time or effort and was outstanding!
Sounds good! Cooking shortcuts and leftovers are my two favourite things. ~ karen!
Sounds great! What temperature did you bake the pork at?
The only issue I have with your asparagus is that there is not more of it! I'd have triple that amount. And Frikadellar? I hardly know her!
I saved 3 spears for tomorrow night, lol. I was working with limited product. ;) Yep. Freaky frikadeller for me. ~ karen!