eastowners

Current Mood: Happy

UPDATE: I’ve added a recipe for a Vegetarian Breakfast Skillet that utilizes the same veggie sausage.  I still have not had the motivation to try making my own biscuits, but I have now made this a half-dozen times and  I’ve found that browning the roux a little longer makes for a more tasty gravy, but it can go south very quickly, so watch it carefully.  I’ve also played with the spices and found that adding them to the sausage before it goes in the pan works better (see the link above).

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I was able to pull off making some delicious vegetarian biscuits and gravy this morning. It turned out very very well for a first try and I figured I’d share. Here’s my recipe (more or less):

1/2 tube of GoLean veggie sausage
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 stick of butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/4 cup water
1 1/4 cup milk
1/4-3/8 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/4 tsp ground sage
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp marjoram

Over medium-high heat, fry the veggie sausage in the olive oil. I used a slotted spatula and mushed the sausage as it cooked and then broke it up even further; basically make the pieces as small as possible. Don’t over-cook them. When they are just starting to get brown, transfer them to a bowl and put aside. Don’t worry about cleaning the pan. Anything left over will help to season the gravy.

Over medium-low heat (in the same pan after you’ve removed the sausage) melt 1/2 stick of butter. Do not allow to bubble and sizzle. Add the flour, slowly, mix well to a roux and increase the heat slightly. Add the spices and salt and pepper. Allow the roux to brown slightly; pay attention. It will burn quickly if you don’t pay attention to it.

Mix the milk and water into the bowel of sausage (remember the sausage?). Mix this concoction into the pan with the roux and stir. If you are careful, you can increase the heat slightly. Keep stirring and checking it for thickness. Add a mixture of 2 parts water to 1 part flour if you need to thicken it up a bit. Don’t add too much or you’ll have paste. If it’s too thick, add more water. I found that I needed to add about a teaspoon of flour/water mix and it was good. It takes a good long time to thicken up. Once it starts, reduce the heat. Do not allow the gravy to boil.

For biscuits, we just used the Pilsbury out of the can and I split them in half with a bread knife after baking. Next time, I’m going to try my hand at totally home-made, but this time, it was most excellent. I’m also going to play with the spice ratios a bit; probably increasing them by 25% or so.

I’ll post results next time, and any revisions I come up with.

If you’re looking for the original, non-veggie version, it can be found here. Thanks to Anthony St Clair for providing a great starting point to my adaptation.