I left out the garlic for dietary reasons and it was still super yummy. I added some extra white wine vinegar. After everything was cooked down I added a sprinkle of corn starch to bring the sauce together, after that it didn't really need a gravy. But I love gravy and already some of my own so why not. I ate most of it without the gravy however and it was fantastic! My husband had his with some chicken but the potato was big enough for me.