Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Passionate Vegetarian by Crescent Dragonwagon.
This recipe originally accompanied Basic Oven-Baked Marinated Tempeh and Lentil Croquettes.
White wine, Dijon, miso, good vegetable stock — the flavors in this are incredibly good and fly in the face of anyone who thinks that something vegetarian and low-fat cannot be intensely delicious. Instead of the fat-intense roux technique that is typical of gravy making, the thickeners are buzzed in the food processor with some of the liquid. Countless entrees and entree plates would be sparked by this sauce — basic baked tempeh or tofu, for instance, with a grain side dish and some steamed broccoli.
• 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.
