Biscuits and Sage Sausage Gravy
ETA: I needed chicken stock for the mapo tofu and didn't want to use a bouillon cube so I used a combination of the Thanksgiving turkey and various chicken carcasses from my freezer to make stock yesterday. I ended up with 14 cups of stock and used 4 of them for a pot of leek and wonton (chicken and bacon) soup. I added a picture to the bottom of this post.
I didn't grow up eating biscuits and sausage gravy, and from what I've read, that's a shame, cause it's a ... GOOD thing.
So, after my successful pan gravy for the pork chops, I thought I'd give it a shot. Getting advice from people who know, I learned that the quality of the gravy depends on the quality of the sausage. Which seems self evident but some of us are clueless and need all the help we can get. Jimmy Dean brand sausages were recommended. But, I looked the last time I went grocery shopping and didn't find them in my local, cut rate grocery chain. So I whined about it and a friend gave me a seasoning/herb and spice combination that was similar.
I had some extra lean ground pork in my freezer in 1 pound blocks so I thawed one of them and used half for pork and leek mapo tofu and the rest ... well, I mixed up the herbs and spices in the recipe for sage sausage given to me by spikesgirl58, added it to the pork, and made a half batch of sausage which I used to make the sausage gravy.
Spikesgirl58's Sage Sausage - enough for 1 pound of ground pork
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
3/4 teaspoon ground sage
1/4 teaspoon fresh coarse ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon msg (*Optional, but this is what they use) ... OMITTED as I don't have MSG in my house
1/8 teaspoon oregano
NOTE: For regular sausage, omit the sage.
For a sausage gravy recipe, I searched the net and found Ree Drummond, of the show, "The Pioneer Woman" 's recipe on the Food Network. It had a lot of good reviews though many suggested cutting back on the ground black pepper used, so I reduced the 2 TSP used to 1/2 tsp, which worked for me. I figured a woman who lives and works on a cattle ranch in Oklahoma and has to feed all those hungry mouths, probably knows a thing or two about making sausage and gravy.
I was right.
Next time I'll make buttermilk biscuits but these simple ones that I usually serve with chicken or turkey pot pie were pretty good. And fast to make. :)
Sausage Gravy - makes 12 servings
1 pound breakfast sausage
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 to 4 cups whole milk, more to taste
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, more to taste
Remove the sausage from casing, if using purchased sausage, and tear off small pieces of the sausage and add them to a large frying pan or skillet in a single layer. Brown the sausage over medium-high heat until it's no longer pink.
Reduce the heat to medium-low and sprinkle the flour, a tablespoon at a time over the sausage, stirring so that the sausage soaks it all up, until you've added it all. Continue cooking, while stirring for another minute so that the flour is cooked. Pour in the milk, about half a cup at a time, stirring constantly, until it has all been added.
Continue cooking the gravy, stirring frequently, until it thickens. (This may take a good 10 to 12 minutes though if you wait for each half cup to thicken it may take less than that in total.)
TASTE for seasoning, then sprinkle in about half the seasoned salt and ground pepper. Taste again and add the remaining salt and pepper if needed.
Continue cooking until the gravy is nice and thick. If it gets too thick, add another quarter to half a cup of milk until it's just the right thickness for you.
Spoon the sausage gravy over warm biscuits and serve immediately!
Here's the Pork and Leek Mapo Tofu I made with the other half pound of extra lean ground pork. The recipe is here.
Leek and Chicken/Bacon filled Wonton Soup - The soup simmered a bit more forcefully than I would have liked so a couple of the wontons burst open.
I'll have to make the spinach and cottage cheese roll-ups later in the week as I was just too tired today.
I didn't grow up eating biscuits and sausage gravy, and from what I've read, that's a shame, cause it's a ... GOOD thing.
So, after my successful pan gravy for the pork chops, I thought I'd give it a shot. Getting advice from people who know, I learned that the quality of the gravy depends on the quality of the sausage. Which seems self evident but some of us are clueless and need all the help we can get. Jimmy Dean brand sausages were recommended. But, I looked the last time I went grocery shopping and didn't find them in my local, cut rate grocery chain. So I whined about it and a friend gave me a seasoning/herb and spice combination that was similar.
I had some extra lean ground pork in my freezer in 1 pound blocks so I thawed one of them and used half for pork and leek mapo tofu and the rest ... well, I mixed up the herbs and spices in the recipe for sage sausage given to me by spikesgirl58, added it to the pork, and made a half batch of sausage which I used to make the sausage gravy.
Spikesgirl58's Sage Sausage - enough for 1 pound of ground pork
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
3/4 teaspoon ground sage
1/4 teaspoon fresh coarse ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon msg (*Optional, but this is what they use) ... OMITTED as I don't have MSG in my house
1/8 teaspoon oregano
NOTE: For regular sausage, omit the sage.
For a sausage gravy recipe, I searched the net and found Ree Drummond, of the show, "The Pioneer Woman" 's recipe on the Food Network. It had a lot of good reviews though many suggested cutting back on the ground black pepper used, so I reduced the 2 TSP used to 1/2 tsp, which worked for me. I figured a woman who lives and works on a cattle ranch in Oklahoma and has to feed all those hungry mouths, probably knows a thing or two about making sausage and gravy.
I was right.
Next time I'll make buttermilk biscuits but these simple ones that I usually serve with chicken or turkey pot pie were pretty good. And fast to make. :)
Sausage Gravy - makes 12 servings
1 pound breakfast sausage
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 to 4 cups whole milk, more to taste
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, more to taste
Remove the sausage from casing, if using purchased sausage, and tear off small pieces of the sausage and add them to a large frying pan or skillet in a single layer. Brown the sausage over medium-high heat until it's no longer pink.
Reduce the heat to medium-low and sprinkle the flour, a tablespoon at a time over the sausage, stirring so that the sausage soaks it all up, until you've added it all. Continue cooking, while stirring for another minute so that the flour is cooked. Pour in the milk, about half a cup at a time, stirring constantly, until it has all been added.
Continue cooking the gravy, stirring frequently, until it thickens. (This may take a good 10 to 12 minutes though if you wait for each half cup to thicken it may take less than that in total.)
TASTE for seasoning, then sprinkle in about half the seasoned salt and ground pepper. Taste again and add the remaining salt and pepper if needed.
Continue cooking until the gravy is nice and thick. If it gets too thick, add another quarter to half a cup of milk until it's just the right thickness for you.
Spoon the sausage gravy over warm biscuits and serve immediately!
Here's the Pork and Leek Mapo Tofu I made with the other half pound of extra lean ground pork. The recipe is here.
Leek and Chicken/Bacon filled Wonton Soup - The soup simmered a bit more forcefully than I would have liked so a couple of the wontons burst open.
I'll have to make the spinach and cottage cheese roll-ups later in the week as I was just too tired today.