On Brunch
As if our normal routines aren't complicated enough, we thought it would be a good idea to fill up the very long table with friends for a bunch today of biscuits & gravy, grits, hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, canned peaches, raisin toast, ruby red champagne cocktail, and coffee. It went well aside from our timeline slipping out of our favor exponentially. I think all of the food turned out very well, and everyone seemed to want a nap after attempting to dent the 10lbs of grits and Crockpot full of sausage gravy on the table. Perfect! Brunches should lead to naps. But, then you don't want a nap after you switch to coffee and then the spicy bloody marys with dumpstered/salvaged pickled okra that walked in with a smile. Perfect. And then, brunch on this sunny day in January, led to a bike ride to the beach, up a big hill, and then to a bar. Brunches should lead to beers! And then it was 7pm--not horribly late, but a full day of brunch. Perfect!
The biscuits and gravy turned out really well, and so I'd like to share and preserve the recipes here on the blog. There was so much gravy. It acted like real sausage gravy and even fooled someone who didn't know it was real-sausage free. Next time I'd like to make it spicy with white pepper or cayenne. And, oh, the biscuits! I made only two batches, but wanted to keep going. They were so puffy and light. In my recipe research last week I found a blog entry about biscuits and flour protein levels. It is said that the White Lily brand is the best for southern-style biscuits, but by blending cake flour and regular flour, an approximate substitute produces excellent results.
Vegetarian Sausage Gravy
adapted from Cooking Light
Serves about 6
2 TB canola oil
1 tube Soy Sausage Style Gimme Lean
5 cups whole milk
1/4 flour
1 TB salt (or to taste)
pepper to taste
In an electric wok, heat oil at medium-low temp until water pops. Crumble in the sticky soy product, trying to separate it into small pieces. Brown the sausage, and continue to work it into small pieces. In a separate bowl, add 5 cups of milk. Pour about 1 cup into the pan with the browned sausage. Whisk in the flour to the remaining 4 cups milk, combining until smooth. Turn up heat in wok and add the milk and flour mixture, stir, stir, stirring. Stir while it bubbles and thickens. Stir in salt and pepper. When it's reached desired thickness, you're ready to serve.
Buttermilk Biscuits
Adapted from recipes on RecipeZaar and Pinch My Salt
Makes about 7 or 8 biscuits (serves about 4-5)
1 1/4 cup cake flour
3/4 cup flour
1 TB baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
6 TB cold butter, chopped
3/4 cup buttermilk
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Combine dry ingredients in bowl, stirring thoroughly with a whisk. Using pastry blender, mix in the cold butter until the flower and butter mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add buttermilk, being careful to combine without over-stirring. If needed, adjust the wetness or dryness of the dough with buttermilk or flour so that you can turn it out on a floured board and pat it out to about 1/2 inch thickness without any sticking. Using biscuit cutter or smallish cup with an edge that will cut dough, cut circles and place dough on ungreased cookie sheet so they are all touching each other in the center. Do not over-handle dough scraps: just form the stray pieces into a biscuit shape and pop the pan in the oven. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until biscuits have a slightly golden top.
