During a quick trip to my local grocer, I bought some fresh made sausage. It was a coarse grind, more chopped than ground meat and I have been mulling over a few possible savory dishes. All for naught as I woke up this morning wanting sausage gravy! I am adding additional spices to the browning meat when Maggie asks if I have made biscuits. Never thought about them – how could that be? Who has sausage gravy without biscuits? She rummages through the freezer and finds some frozen bread dough but that would take too long to defrost, rise, and bake. However, the frozen pie crust in her hand inspires me.
Ingredients:
single pie crust
1# sausage – fennel seed, ground sage, thyme, salt pepper
2 TBLS flour
1 cup whole or canned milk
4 eggs – onion powder, garlic powder, paprika
1/2 sharp cheddar fine shred
After breaking up the sausage into smaller pieces – fennel seed, ground sage, thyme, and fresh ground pepper were added. On medium heat, brown the sausage until cooked through. Â Once the meat is cooked, I taste for salt. This is always a good idea when buying fresh made sausage as the presence of salt can fluctuate. Salt is a needed component and I prefer to add it in layers during the cooking process. I sprinkle a couple tablespoons of flour and continue to cook for about two minutes.
Have you ever had gravy that tasted like flour? Yuk. Cooking the flour releases the nutty flavor. The longer you cook the flour, the darker your gravy, but it does need a couple minutes in the hot skillet before you add your liquid.
I prefer to use evaporated milk when making sausage gravy but today I am trying to use up some stuff from the fridge. I would normally use 2 cups of milk but needed something with more body to fill a pie so I cut the milk by half and only used about 1 cup. I pour in about 1/3 of it, stir constantly until smooth, then gradually add the remaining milk. Lower the temperature a bit if needed to keep bubbling softly as you stir, stir, and stir the gravy. Then remove from the heat to finish setting up.
During the gravy process, Maggie is prepping the frozen pie shell. After giving it a few minutes to soften, she poked the bottom and edges with a fork, cut a circle of parchment paper to cover the bottom, then layered a handful of dry beans to keep the crust from puffing up. This was the first she had heard of pie weights and teaching moments while cooking are most definitely tail waggin’ moments! Â She placed it in a 400 degree preheated oven, while I finished prepping the filling.
I whisked the eggs with a splash of milk, a couple dashes of granulated onion, a smidge of garlic powder, a pinch of kosher salt, and a good couple shakes of paprika. Those measurements come with practice so try shaking into your palm first as it is better to be lite on the spice than overwhelmed. Scramble the eggs in hot skillet over medium heat. Since I was layering this in a pie that was going back into the oven, the eggs were cooked only until firm but still moist. A package of fine shredded sharp cheese only had about 1/4 cup left in the bottom, but I found a small block of sharp Vermont cheddar in the back of the drawer.
The toasted pie crust was removed from the oven and allowed to cool a bit, the parchment and beans discarded. The sausage gravy was layered on the bottom and filled about 3/4 of the pie, the scramble eggs were spread over top, then covered with cheese. I sprinkled some Emeril’s brand seasoning on top and placed back into the oven for about 7 minutes until the cheese melted completely.
One slice per person was plenty for breakfast with a cup of Woods coffee.
I had another piece for lunch, even better!