Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Carla Hall's Biscuits and Gravy 11.1.11




I am still recovering from my weekend cook session... 3 racks of ribs, 2 HUGE Pork shoulders for pulled pork and a wide array of side dishes.  Click HERE to see the post with photos of all the fun.

And by recovering, I actually mean I have a refrigerator filled with leftover and I am under very specific orders from the boss (my wife) to NOT buy any new ingredients until I make a serious dent in the food we have already cooked.

SO, in fairness to Carla's recipe, I made her biscuits exactly as she showed on the episode.  And indeed, they came out perfect.

The gravy however is nothing like what she showed on the episode... well, a little.

She used Turkey sausage... I used left over pulled pork (There will be peace with the boss tonight).

She used Butternut Squash... I used a small onion

She used Sage and Chili Flakes... I used some of my fresh made Cajun Spice mix I call "Big Easy In a Jar".  Has a few savory spices as well as plenty of heat...

BTW, I make my own Cajun mix I call, "Big easy in a Jar".  You will be seeing this ALOT.  It's a fast way to add that special heat to any dish.  I make about 2 cups worth a month and bit by bot, it is gone!  Tastes great on eggs to chicken and anything in between!

1 part Garlic Flakes
1 part Onion Flakes
1 part Dried Thyme Leaves
1 part Dried Oregano
1 part Black Pepper
1 part White Pepper
1 part Lemon Pepper
1/2 (one half) part Cayenne Pepper
1/2 part Ground Bay Leaves
4 parts Sweet Paprika

This is a great little spice to have around. Add brown sugar (1/2 the amount of spice mix) to make a BBQ rub. And add a little to a soup to zing it up or even to a gravy!


OK, I will admit that my gravy and Carla's are not terribly close, but the techniques and ideas are all the same.

Mine is just a little bit more redneck than hers.



Here's what I did...

Actually, I made this for my breakfast this morning.  So, it was just me.  I actually divided the recipe by 4 to come up with a single serving.  To see Carla's biscuit recipe, including her Butternut Squash Gravy with Sage, click the blue letters.

Here's my single serve Biscuits and Redneck Gravy...

pre-heat the oven to 500 degrees (HOT)

1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 TBS Butter (COLD)
1/2 TBS Shortening
2 TBS Greek Yogurt
3 TBS Milk

I used my food processor.  Combine the dry ingredients, pulse
add the butter and shortening, pulse
add the milk and yogurt, pulse

Now, on the show, Carla gave a great talk on the texture of the dough.  What not to do (These are drop biscuits, no rolling, no kneading, no punching of the dough).  If you are not an expert biscuit maker, please take a look at the video of the episode (click HERE).

This made 6 biscuits (Drop a heaping TBS on a silipat or a sheet of parchment paper)  Bake in the oven for about 6 minutes.

DELICIOUS, but wait till you get redneck on this...

For the gravy...

1/2 cup left over pulled pork, minced
1 small onion, diced medium
1 TBS Olive Oil
2 TBS Flour
1 tsp "Big easy in a Jar"
1/2 cup Milk

In a saute pan over medium high heat, heat the oil and then add the onions.  Saute for about 5 minutes, until they are clear and soft.  Add the Pork and heat for another couple of minutes

Add the spice, add the milk and then the flour.  Whisk together.  if you need to thicken the gravy, add a bit more flour as needed.


Salt and pepper to taste and just as delicious as you can imagine!

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