Recipe Box: Sausage Gravy and Biscuits

For the biscuits, you can't do better than Simply Gluten Free's Mile High Biscuit recipe.  I don't like to buy buttermilk to use just a little, so I started with a cup of milk and a teaspoon of lemon juice (or 1 3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar).  Let it sit and thicken while you mix the rest of the ingredients (it's okay if it gets clumpy).  I also don't have powdered milk on hand as a staple, but adding an extra 1/4 cup sweet white rice flour maintains the dry/wet balance well.

You've got 15 minutes while they're baking, which is plenty of time to make the gravy! 

This recipe makes enough for 4-5 biscuits, which means you'll have more biscuits than gravy using the recipe from Simply Gluten Free.  Double the gravy recipe as necessary, or save the extra biscuits for a scrumptious strawberry shortcake later!

For gravy:


1 tablespoon oil
1 pound plain/regular ground breakfast sausage (vegan sausage works just fine)
1/2 tsp sage (skip if using sage flavored sausage)
1 1/2 cups milk (have not tested this with dairy alternatives)
1/2 cup chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
2 tablespoons gluten-free flour, sweet white rice flour, or cornstarch

Heat a large skillet with the oil.  Fry the sausage and sage together until it is all browned and developing crispy bits.  Set sausage aside in bowl.

Mix milk and chicken broth.  If using gluten-free flour, add to pan and stir for 30 seconds or until toasted.  If using corn starch, whisk it into the milk and chicken broth while cold.  

Over medium heat, pour chicken broth/milk into pan.  Cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring slowly and scraping the bottom of the pan.  If clumps form, whisk the mixture until it is even.

When the mix is the consistency of thin gravy, add the sausage and pepper and stir well.  Remove from heat or turn to low until biscuits are done.  It will thicken after 1-2 minutes standing.

To serve, split or crumble a biscuit and spoon gravy/sausage over the top. 

Recipe Box: Gluten-Free Crepes

I'm finally posting JD's Gluten-Free Crepes!  This is something he adapted from another recipe to work with the GF flour mix we use (below).   We generally eat them for breakfast, ideally with mascarpone cheese and sliced fruit.   Mascarpone can be found in a lot of food stores that sell specialty cheeses.  It's a very sweet, light, Italian cream cheese that tastes like crème fraîche.  The brand we find locally, Belgioioso, is gluten free.  You can also use regular cream cheese, sweetened ricotta, or Neufchatel. 

Gluten-Free Flour Mix:

4 parts white rice flour
3 parts potato or corn starch
2 parts sweet white sorghum flour  (brown rice flour should work, but we haven't specifically tested it)

Measure parts by pouring into a measuring cup or container and use the same container for each "part".   Mix all the parts together very well (we put it in a big container and shake it thoroughly.  It makes a fairly decent "all-purpose) for unleavened uses). 

Crepes

1/2 cup flour [see above for GF flour mix]
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
5/8 cup milk (1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons) (should work with non-dairy substitutes)

If possible, use a small round nonstick pan with tapered sides, like an omelet pan.

Preheat the pan on medium heat. Dampen a paper towel with vegetable oil and wipe it on the pan to give it a very thin coating.

 Mix all ingredients together. Whip until well blended. Pour just enough batter into the pan to coat the bottom, tipping the pan to spread evenly.  If it doesn't flow well, add milk by tablespoons until it is thin enough.  

Wait for approximately 1 minute, or until crepe is dry and slides easily in pan.  Flip crepe and cook for an additional 30 seconds.  The crepe should still be light and pliant without browning, but may have brittle edges. 

For the visual learners, here's a Youtube video on how to cook the crepes.  Skip past the mixing of ingredients and use the recipe above, but note the texture of the batter and watch how he pours it to coat the pan.

These unfortunately do not store/re-heat well.  By the second day they are very crumbly.  The batter does keep made for up to three days, however, so you can store a container of it in the fridge and use as needed.