Growing up in the suburbs of New York City, diners were an important part of life in high school.  You could go to a diner and get any food on the menu, any time of day.  The biggest seller for the late night high school crowd at any diner was french fries and gravy. My last high school diner run was in 1989. Fast forward to 2011, when Ethan and I went to Montreal, Canada for our anniversary.  Montreal is the home of Poutine.  Poutine is one of the truly greatest imports from Canada.  It is basically french fries and gravy with cheese curds on top, a better version of diner Gravy Fries.  Unfortunately, we could not find a vegan version anywhere.  Trust me, we looked.  So, as soon as we got home I went to the kitchen and came up with my own version. I used our basic mushroom gravy as a starting point and created a vegan poutine.

You can top it with some shredded vegan cheese if you want, but I still prefer it with just the fries and gravy.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 12 minutes
Yield: about 2 1/2 cups

Ingredients:
2 TBL olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 TBL all purpose flour
2 TBL nutritional yeast
2 tsp soy sauce
½ cup red wine
2 cups + 2 TBL vegetable broth, divided
1 no-beef bullion cube
1 TBL arrowroot flour (or corn starch)
Salt & pepper to taste
1 batch French Fries, about 4 cups (but who measures fries?)
shredded vegan cheddar cheese (optional)
Directions:

1.  Heat olive oil in medium sauce pan over med-high heat.  Add onions and sauté until they are translucent and starting to turn color, about 5-7 minutes.  Add garlic and sauté another 30 seconds.

2.  Sprinkle flour over the onions and garlic. Stir to completely coat everything in flour and cook for another minute.  Add in the nutritional yeast and soy sauce. Stir to combine.

3.  Add red wine and stir to deglaze the pot. Scrape all the browned bits off the bottom of the pot.

4. Pour in the 2 cups of vegetable broth and stir. Raise heat to high and bring to boil. Keep stirring making sure to scrape the bottom of the pot to incorporate all the flour.

5.  Add in bullion cube. Stir to fully dissolve. Reduce heat to simmer.

6.  In a small bowl, combine the remaining 2 TBL vegetable broth and arrowroot flour. Add to the gravy and stir continuously until thickened.  If you want the gravy thinner, add more broth.

7. Taste for seasoning. Add salt and pepper to taste.

To assemble the Poutine:

1.  Place a generous portion of french fries on a plate.

2.  Pour 1/2 cup of gravy over the fries.

3.  Top with some vegan cheese if using.

4.  Grab a fork and eat!