4cupschicken or meat stockhighest quality available, preferably homemade
2tablespoonsunsalted butteroptional
Kosher saltto taste
.5 ounces dried morel mushroomson the small side. Depending on the size of your morels, this is about ¾ cup, or roughly ½ cup crumbled morel pieces
¼cupbrandy or dry sherry
Instructions
Re-hydrate the morels in the stock for 30 minutes, or until hydrated. Agitate the mushrooms to remove any grit, then strain the liquid and reserve both separately. Trim the morels into bite size rounds that will fit on a spoon.
When your roast, chicken, or other roasted meat is done, remove it from the oven and allow it to rest in a warm place while you prepare the gravy. Stir the cornstarch with the water and reserve.
Place the roasting pan on the burner on medium heat, then deglaze the pan with the brandy and scrape with a wooden spoon to loosen up the browned bits. Cook until the brandy is almost evaporated, then add the stock, trimmed morels, and cornstarch and bring the mixture to a simmer.
Cook until the sauce is thickened nicely, slightly reduced and glossy. Whisk in the butter if using. Season the mixture with salt to taste, then double check the seasoning one last time, transfer to a dish with a ladle and serve immediately.
Notes
Drippings are the best Ideally, this is something you make when you're cooking a roast, since the pan drippings are what helps to give it such a great flavor. Make sure to cook your roasted meat or poultry on a rack in the oven pan to allow juices to drip down and caramelize.Using Kneaded Roux Use the same recipe as above, but instead of cornstarch, knead together the following until you have a soft dough:
2 tablespoons of unsalted, room temperature butter
⅓ cup of all purpose flour
When the stock comes to a simmer, whisk in the kneaded roux to thicken. Kneaded roux can be kept in the fridge and used whenever you want to thicken something, but I like to bring it to room temperature first.