Bensonhurst Kitchen: Sausage Gravy With Sweet Potato Biscuits
While this may be difficult to believe, fall will be here in just six short weeks. As the days shorten and gradually begin to cool, big weekend breakfasts start to become more appealing.
In this edition of BK, Colleen conjures up a gloriously glutinous southern-style breakfast that will make your lazy weekend morning. The wonderful orange hue of these sweet potato buttermilk biscuits evokes the candy corn colors of autumn, while the sausage gravy leaves you lethargic enough to take that much-needed nap in no time at all.
Consider this a consolation for all those pounds lost on light breakfasts followed by walks in the hot summer sun that left you sweating like a whore in church. IMO, fall can’t get here fast enough – and this heavy-hitting dish just might make it possible to sleep through August!
Colleen’s Southern Style Sausage Gravy With Sweet Potato Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients:
Sweet Potato Buttermilk Biscuits
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, diced
3/4 cup chilled sweet potato puree
1/3 cup buttermilk
Gravy
1 12 oz. package of breakfast sausage (we’ve linked the brand used in the photo – pun intended)
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
3 cups milk
salt
pepper
Directions:
Sweet Potato Buttermilk Biscuits
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
In a large bowl combine flour, light brown sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Add diced butter and mix until mixture resembles coarse meal with some pea size lumps of butter remaining.
In a separate bowl whisk together the sweet potato puree and buttermilk.
Stir it into the flour mixture, mixing only until all ingredients are incorporated. DO NOT OVERMIX!
Turn out dough onto floured surface and knead gently until dough comes together but is still a little lumpy. Shape the dough into a circle and pat to an even one inch thickness. Cut two inch circles out of dough; you can use a biscuit or cookie cutter, the open end of a juice glass, or even a jar lid. After cutting out your biscuits gather the left over scraps and pat into another one inch thick circle and cut additional until you no longer have any dough left. **Do not reuse dough more than twice**
Arrange biscuits on a greased cookie sheet. Brush the tops with either melted butter or an egg wash. Bake until golden, approximately 20 – 25 minutes.
Sausage Gravy
In a deep skillet, brown sausage over medium-high heat. Remove sausage from skillet with a slotted spoon, leaving the sausage drippings in the pan.
Stir in butter until melted. Add the flour and stir until the mixture is smooth.
Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly until all the milk has been added and the mixture is smooth. Continue to cook until the gravy has thickened.
Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in cooked sausage.
Reduce heat, and simmer for 12 – 15 minutes. If the gravy becomes too thick, stir in a little more milk.
Slice cooled biscuits in half. Spoon sausage gravy over biscuits and serve.
TIPS:
Handling dough – especially biscuit dough – too much can result in tough biscuits. Nobody enjoys eating something as hard as a hockey puck so handle your biscuit dough as little as possible!
If you are especially hungry or just think that breakfast isn’t breakfast unless there are eggs involved, scramble some eggs and put them on top of the biscuits before covering with gravy. Problem solved!