Known as being part of the Mother Sauces in French Cuisine, this vegetable Demi glace recipe is filled with the aromatics from various healthy vegetables and serves well for both meat lovers, and plant-based eaters.
Ideally, the Demi-Glace is a sauce that’s often prepared with reduced beef stock and butter. However, the sauce has been transformed into a plant-based sauce to satisfy all tastebuds.
The sauce can be used for grilled veggies such as leek and vegetable Lasagna. With its thicken consistency, it will give amazing texture for beautifully grilled veggies from your BBQ.
When prepared perfectly and precisely, the sauce will resemble a deep brown color. It is rich, thick, and is used as a topping for proteins or as a base to various stews and sauces.
While the original sauce usually features beef or chicken, the Vegetarian Demi-Glace, as the name implies, is the vegetarian variation of the original sauce.
It is meatless, healthier, and nonetheless, delicious.
Despite of being prepared with no meat stock, the Vegetarian Demi-Glace is still a favorite of many people.
However, because it takes a long time to complete, the sauce is usually made by high-end restaurants or skilled chefs.
Origin of the Demi-Glace
The sauce is attributed to the father of French Cuisine, Auguste Escoffier. However, the base of the classic demi-glace is the Espagnole Sauce, which is the Spanish Sauce, as Espagnole is the French term for Spanish.
This means that the Demi-Glace also has a Spanish origin.
Historians unraveled this origin when they discovered that the Spanish cooks of Anne who was King Louis XIII’s bride, prepared their wedding feast and insisted on improving the already existing rich brown French Sauce with Spanish Tomatoes.
Thus, the Espagnole sauce was born and became a mother sauce, a very important sauce in France and the base sauce for the demi-glace.
Essential Ingredients for the Vegetable Demi-Glace
Flour Or Starch
You will need either flour or starch to make your sauce thicken and form a roux. The perfect flour for this is all-purpose as it will provide a great consistency, and texture taste.
You can also use gluten-free if you are allergic to gluten.
If you do not want to use flour, we recommend using potato starch as it is used in this recipe.
The potato starch will thicken the sauce, and potato starch powder bears higher temperatures than cornstarch.
Low Sodium Vegetable Stock
Since this variety of Demi-Glace is vegetarian, it makes sense that the stock used is vegetable and low in sodium.
However, with the low sodium feature, you may discover that the stock doesn’t have enough salt. This means that you may have to add more salt to the stock if need be.
Vegetables
For this recipe, a combination of vegetables is used to make this stock. The full list, of course, is listed in the recipe card below. However, here’s a quick list of the main vegetables you’ll need to create the sauce.
Beets: Known for having a high source of folate, vitamin C and magnesium, this vegetable will provide many more nutrients to the stock.
Eggplant: This fruit (vegetable like) ingredient is used in many cuisines. It can be eaten raw with caution, but it is also filled with multivitamins, folic acid, fiber, and potassium.
Tomato / Tomato Paste: With the scientific characteristic description aside, the tomato or tomato paste used in this recipe will provide a rich color to the stew. It will help the other ingredients tie together and it is filled with antioxidants.
How To Store The Sauce
As with other food items, you can store the vegetable Demi-Glace through freezing and refrigerating.
With freezing, you can use a deep freezer or clean ice cube trays. You pour the sauce into ice cube trays, pop the cubes out and store them in a ziplock bag. This way, the sauce stays fresh and you don’t get to thaw more than you need.
You can also refrigerate the Vegetarian Demi-Glace. When you do this right, the stock may turn into a rubbery gel.
The rubbery gel can then be cut into chunks and stored in the freezer. You can prevent the dehydration of these chunks by wrapping plastic around them.
If refrigerating, the stock will last for 2 weeks in the fridge.
Variations and Substitutions
If you are going to make any substitution to the Vegetable Demi-Glace, then the sauces change from a Vegetarian Demi-Glace.
Instead of the vegetarian stock used in the Vegetarian Demi-Glace, you can use stock made from chicken, beef, or condensed stock.
How to Pair the Vegetarian Demi-Glace
The Vegetarian Demi-Glace is a sauce that can be used to make other sauces. The sauce can be stirred into soups, risottos, and stews.
Adding the Vegetarian Demi-Glace helps to boost the taste of the soup and stew.
We also recommend trying it the recipes listed below:
Roasted Vegetables in Air Fryer
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How To Make Vegetable Demi Glace
Equipment
- Saucepan
Ingredients
- 8 Tbsp. Olive Oil Divided
- 1 Beet Peeled and cut in 4 pieces
- 2 Large Tomatoes With seeds; Cut into 4 pieces
- 1 Large Eggplant
- 6 Celery Stalks Cut into small pieces
- 3 Large Carrots Peeled and cut into small pieces
- 6 Baby Bella Mushrooms Cut in halves
- 1 Large Red Onion Cut into 4 pieces
- 1 Large Yellow Onion Cut into 4 pieces
- 5 Green Onions Peeled and cut into 3 pieces; or 2 Leeks
- 20 Garlic Cloves Peeled and leave whole
- 6 Oz. Can Tomato Paste
- 12 Cups Low Sodium Vegetable Stock (Or water) Plus ¼ Cup more to make the slurry
- Salt And Pepper To Taste
- ¼ Cup Thickening Agent: Flour, Cornstarch, Potato Starch For this recipe, we used potato starch to make the slurry
Instructions
- Slice, chop, dice, and rinse the vegetables. Transfer the vegetables to a baking dish (you may need to use two baking dish) one layer at a time. Then add 2 tablespoons of oil, then 2 tablespoon tomato paste, and lightly season with salt and pepper. Repeat the process with the next layers until you have reached the top of the dish. If the dish is not large enough, use another baking dish for the remaining vegetables and ingredients. Roast the vegetables for 1 hour and 30 minutes at 375 degrees. Be sure to stir or mix well every 30 minutes. Next, in a large saucepan, add the roasted vegetables with the liquid. Then add the vegetable stock or water. Cook on medium heat for 45 minutes.
- After 45 minutes strain the vegetables and set the liquid aside. At this point, you have two choices. Choice 1: Create a slurry with the potato starch and water and set it aside. Return the liquid to the pot, and simmer on medium low heat for 10 minutes and add the slurry. Stir well to combine. Continue to simmer for an additional 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.If the sauce is too thick, dilute it with ½ cup water at a time. Choice 2: Create the slurry with the potato starch (flour or cornstarch) and water and set it aside.Sit the vegetable liquid aside. Blend the vegetables with an immersion blender or a high-quality blender with 1 cup of the vegetable liquid.Strain the blended mixture and add all the liquid to the pot. Simmer on medium low heat for 10 minutes and add the slurry. Stir well to combine immediately and allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. If the sauce is too thick, dilute it with ½ cup water at a time.
Kris
This was such a fun thing to try and we really enjoyed it! Thank you for your creativity! 🙂
Mirlene
I am so glad to hear that Kris. Thank you.
Anita
This is a very handy sauce. I add this to soup or stew when I find that it still lacks a bit of flavor.
Mirlene
Thank you, Anita.
Heather
Never made a demi glace before..thanks for all the step by step photos and tips. Turned out delicious!
Mirlene
You are very welcome.
Amber
Was so delicious and will definitely make again!
Mirlene
Thank you, Amber.