Sweet Potato Eggplant Gravy

This is one of the greatest gravies of all time, terrific with roasted fowl, pork or veal. The recipe debuted in Paul Prudhomme’s groundbreaking first cookbook, The Louisiana Kitchen, where it was paired with roast duck. Later it was first choice to accompany his famous Tur-duck-en. It is the stuff of legend.

It is terrific with any roast fowl - and I am sure it would pair beautifully with roast pork or veal.

There is another Sweet Potato Eggplant gravy recipe featured on Chef Paul's website, but it is really different. This is the original. If you are actually going to go through the trouble of making Tur-duck-en, to make the experience thoroughly authentic, this gravy is a must. 

Of course, you might prefer (as I would) to consult the internet and order your Tur-duck-en from someone who can competently debone a whole turkey, a whole duck and a whole chicken, leaving each intact, then put them together so as to resemble one big bird -  and in that case, I recommend  The Best Stop Supermarket.

This is the Prudhomme recipe, pretty much, but I see that I have changed it a little over the years. Paul calls for duck fat and duck broth, but in our house (because of a pet duck issue) such a thing is frowned upon by management. So I use olive oil and chicken broth. Other changes are attributable to laziness or personal perversity.

Sweet Potato Eggplant Gravy

Ingredients:

1 medium eggplant
1 medium sweet potato
1 medium onion (finely chopped)
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 C olive oil
3 bay leaves
1 1/2 t salt (in all)
1 1/2 t white pepper (in all)
1 1/2 t red pepper (in all)
1 1/2 t thyme leaves
1 t dry mustard
1/2 C brown sugar
7 C chicken broth
3 T Grand Marnier or Triple Sec
1/2 C sliced green onion

Peel and chop eggplant, which should yield around 4 cups. Peel the sweet potato and cut it in two: cut one half into half-inch dice, and set aside; finely chop the other half.

Pour the olive oil into a large skillet and get it hot. Throw in about three fourths (should be about 3 cups) of the eggplant. Saute it till it browns, adding more oil if you need to. Then add the chopped onion and what's left of the eggplant, and cook this until the onion begins to brown.

Next add the finely chopped sweet potato and the garlic. Stirring occasionally, cook for maybe 10 minutes. Add 1 t of the salt, 1 t of the white pepper, 1 t of the red pepper, and all of the thyme, and dry mustard. Cook for a few minutes more.

Now, over the next 10-15 minutes, in small doses, add 6 cups of the broth (which will leave you 1 cup in reserve), and the brown sugar, stirring as you go.

As stated, 10 or 15 minutes should be enough.

Remove from heat, and strain, mashing with a spatula as much liquid - and as much softened vegetable, which will be the body of the sauce - as you can into a large saucepan.

Throw away the vegetables in the strainer.

Over fairly high heat, pour the remaining cup of broth into the saucepan with the strained liquid, and add the diced sweet potato. Cook for about 10 minutes, skimming any froth. Then add the Grand Marnier and the remaining 1/2 t each of salt, red pepper and white pepper (a typical Prudhomme touch: I suppose a second stage of spicing lends a certain boost), bring it to a boil and simmer until it has reduced to about 3 cups.

Stir in the green onions, cook it a minute or so more, and that's it.