Sausage Gravy with Biscuits and Poached Eggs

Biscuits and Gravy is my favorite item on the breakfast menu!

When I moved South, my husband's Aunt Frances showed me how to make sausage gravy, and this is her recipe. She was born in Appalachian East Tennessee during the Great Depression.They lived off the land, raising hogs and slaughtering them each fall. To preserve the meat through the winter, they would smoke some and turn some into sausage that they packed into jars and kept in the outdoor cold cellar.

As I watched her make sausage gravy, she told me that back then, their sausage had more fat in it. What you buy in the grocery store today is quite lean in comparison. She's had to modify her recipe over the years to include bacon grease as a replacement. (You do save your bacon drippings, right?)

Frances makes a brown gravy, which means she lets the flour in (what I would call) her roux brown before adding the milk. This will give it more flavor. I make mine a little less brown because I get impatient and I like my gravy and biscuits to be done at the same time. You can adjust to fit your taste.

Serve your gravy any way you like, but I take mine with a biscuit and a poached egg. If you want to serve bacon or sausage patties as well, cook those first and reserve the grease. Start your gravy in the same skillet.

Serves 4-6

First I make up my biscuits using White Lily self-rising flour and the recipe on the back of the bag. I cook mine in a 10-inch cast iron skillet with 4 T. of butter melted in the bottom and brushed on top. Once I put them in the oven to cook (for 25-30 minutes), I start the gravy.

1/2 lb. ground breakfast sausage

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. sugar

1/4 t. ground black pepper

1-2 T. bacon grease

1/2 cup flour

3 cups milk

In a large, cast-iron or deep non-stick skillet, brown your sausage over medium heat. Add salt, sugar and pepper and stir in. Add flour and stir to coat the sausage. If there's not enough grease in the pan to absorb all the flour, add 1/2 T. of bacon grease at a time until you see no more raw white flour. 

For a more brown (and flavorful) gravy, continue cooking sausage for 10 more minutes to brown the flour in the hot grease. Once it has reached your desired brownness, add milk 1/2 cup at a time and stir until a paste forms. Then add more milk until you've used all 3 cups. It may seem thin enough without all the milk, but trust me, it will continue to thicken!

While gravy is thickening, poach your eggs in boiling water (3 minutes for light, 4 for medium, and 5 for hard). Layer biscuit, egg, gravy, then enjoy.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Spaghetti and Meatballs is the quintessential Italian dinner for a reason... it's just so darn good! I use ground turkey in my meatballs. Not only is it healthier, but it will give you the most tender meatball. I cook them in my homemade Roasted Tomato Sauce, but you can use a good jarred sauce or your own homemade tomato sauce.

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 T. chopped fresh parsley

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. ground black pepper

1/2 t. dried oregano

1/2 cup plain dry breadcrumbs

1 large egg, beaten

1 lb. ground turkey

3 T. vegetable oil

1/4 cup dry red wine

1 quart Roasted Tomato Sauce (or marinara)

1 lb. linguine noodles

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, add onion, garic, parsley, salt, pepper, oregano, bread crumbs, egg and turkey.  Mix with your hands just until evenly combined. Do not over mix or your meatballs will get tough. Form into golf-ball size or larger. You can make these in advance and refrigerate them for up to a day, but set them out 30-60 minutes before you cook them to get the chill off.

Set a large pot of salted water over high heat to prepare for your noodles. Heat vegetable oil over medium heat in a large non-stick skillet that you can put a lid on. Add meatballs and turn every few minutes to brown on all sides. My trick is that when the meatball loosens from the bottom of the pan, they're ready to be rotated. 

Once meatballs are browned on all sides, remove to a clean plate. If you have more grease in the pan than what you want in your sauce, pour off any excess, but do not scrape the pan clean. Pour wine into the pan and scrape up any browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Add tomato sauce and mix to combine. 

Add noodles to your boiling water and cook to desired tenderness. While pasta is cooking, taste your sauce and add anything you think it needs (salt, crushed red pepper, dried oregano, etc.). If the sauce is more runny than you want, this is the time to cook it down a little or add a some tomato paste. Once the sauce is to your liking, add the meatballs back in, put the lid on and simmer for 3-5 minutes to heat the meatballs and ensure they're fully cooked through.

Drain pasta and divide among 4 bowls. Top with tomato sauce, 3-4 meatballs, and Parmesan cheese.

BEV NOTE: Chianti, but any semi-dry red wine will be good. I pick my wine out before dinner and add that to the sauce.

Pesto

If you grow basil in your garden, you'll get to a point in July or August where you can't use it fast enough to keep it from bolting. That's when it's time to make pesto! The peppery flavor of basil combines with spicy garlic, and savory nuts and cheese to make this a rich yet bright sauce that can be used in myriad ways -- on a pizza or pasta, in a salad dressing or marinade, as the spread on a sandwich or wrap, etc.

Blanching the basil leaves will help your pesto retain its bright green color. I think it's worth the effort, especially if you aren't planning on using the pesto immediately, but you can skip this step. Pesto will stay good in the refrigerator for about 10 days or in the freezer for several months.


4 cups fresh basil leaves
2 cloves of garlic, quartered
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/2 cup good quality olive oil
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 t. salt


In a small saucepan that you can rest a mesh strainer in, boil water (about 1 inch from the top). In batches, place the strainer full of basil leaves into the boiling water for 20 seconds, then remove and submerge in ice water until cool. Squeeze any excess liquid from the basil and set it aside. Repeat until all leaves have been blanched.

Add your garlic to a food processor while it's running. Stop and add basil leaves and pine nuts. With blender running, slowly add olive oil. Once the mixture is pureed, add Parmesan and salt and pulse a few times. Store in an air-tight container with plastic wrap covering the surface of the pesto to keep air away from it, or immediately add it to your favorite recipe.

Ranch Dressing

Buy the wings, but make the ranch! Homemade ranch dressing is easy to make and so much more flavorful than what you can buy in a plastic bottle. Use it as a salad dressing or dipping sauce and you'll be glad you took a few minutes to make it fresh. Make it lighter by using low-fat ingredients or yogurt instead of sour cream.

You can easily double this recipe and save some for other recipes in the coming days. Keeps well in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.

1/2 cup light sour cream or plain yogurt

1/4 cup low-fat buttermilk

1/4 cup mayonaise

1 T. minced garlic (about 2 cloves)

1 1/2 t. chopped fresh thyme leaves

1/2 t. salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and refrigerate for at least one hour to allow the seasonings to diffuse into the dressing. If you want it to be a more pourable dressing, add some more buttermilk.

Pesto pasta

I love to make my own pesto in the summer when my basil plants are growing faster than I can use them. I put some away in the freezer for winter to be reminded of the fresh flavors of summer. Adding some vegetables to the mix makes this a great stand-alone meal.

1 cup homemade Pesto or store-bought
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved

2 T. olive oil

5 sprigs fresh thyme

1 t. coarse salt, plus more for seasoning

freshly ground pepper

1 large baking potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

2 cups green beans, cut in 1-inch pieces (fresh or frozen)

1 lb. spaghetti or linguine noodles

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange tomatoes (cut-sides up) in a baking dish. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Top with thyme sprigs and roast for 15 minutes, or until tender but still holding their form. Remove thyme sprigs and set aside. 

While the tomatoes are roasting, bring a medium sized pot of salted water to a boil and add potatoes. reduce heat slightly and boil potatoes for 10 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside. 

In a small saucepan, add 1/2 inch of water, green beans and a sprinkle of salt. Boil the water and steam the green beans until slightly tender (time depends on if you're using fresh or frozen). Drain excess water and set aside.

Cook pasta according to package directions, reserving 1 cup of pasta water when you drain it. Return pasta to the pot you cooked it in and add roasted tomatoes and their juices, potatoes, green beans and pesto. Stir, gradually adding enough pasta water to help the pesto coat the pasta and vegetables. Serve hot.

BEV NOTE: Pairs well with a Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio