simple cream gravy?

[Warpy]

7. Even a French roux based sauce that uses butter

doesn't contain that much fat per serving. Boring broiled chicken breasts turn into an event with a tablespoonful of a good French cream sauce and the variations are endless.

Meat based gravies are easy, just pour most of the fat off pan drippings, deglaze with wine or water, and add either flour or buerre manie, a French shortcut to a rich sauce. Stir with a whisk to break up any lumps and keep on heat in the pan until it turns into gravy, thinning as necessary. A fat free meat gravy is pan drippings with all the fat poured off, deglazed, and thickened with a mixture of cornstarch and cold water. It tastes OK but lacks the richness of the fattier gravy.

A good veggie gravy can be made with mushrooms and a dark veggie oil roux, just cook the roux until it turns a light brown and smells nutty. Add the mushrooms and their juices and thin with water.

If you don't have a roast beast with pan drippings, adding Better than Bouillion to the water for the roux will make an acceptable tasting gravy (works better with chicken and you have to add more than you think you will), although the color will not be the same as with pan gravy.

ETA: All of this works really well with rice flour, if you're gluten free. Rice flour does have slightly more thickening power than flour, so you'll have to eyeball how much water you use.