Looking for a fast meal or a sustaining one? Check out this Gravy and Biscuit Casserole that quickly fills the belly for the daily drudge!

Gravy-and-biscuit-casserole-recipe-2-SunCakeMom

Gravy was originally nothing else but a flour thickened meat drippings which is something eerily similar to the roux thickened stock, Velouté that, in turn, is known as one of the five mother sauces of French cuisine.

Although nowadays people like to add stock to gravy, making it fairly indistinguishable to the above mentioned Velouté but originally gravy was done only with water and the dripping of meat.

In practice, adding stock to gravy is not just completely unnecessary, if the seasoning of the meat is done right, but utterly destructive to the uniqueness of the gravy too.

If we add stock to everything we cook, then everything will taste like stock, preventing individual dishes to distinguish themselves from each other. Nothing threatens joy in life more than our own desire to tirelessly pursue it with ignorance.

Since gravy left its homeland and became the Béchamel of the English-speaking world, many things have changed though. It’s not just something we make to save the last bites of edible fat from the pan or add some excitement to our reheated dinners but became the torch that could shine through the monotony of life.

Curiously though, gravy and biscuit is definitely not about achieving fame and glory in the halls of fine dining. It is all about whipping together something that’s cheap, yet sustains the body with energy and some essential nutrition right at the beginning of the day until the next meal, if any, is available.

Or at least it was used as such a couple of decades ago but in our era when our jobs consist of staring at screens in moderately comfortable armchairs, gravy and biscuit is just a source of comfort and excess energy.

Ditching biscuit making for ready-made ones like Grands biscuits, didn’t help much with our energy expenditure and in reality, saved very little time in the overall scheme of things.

Given that we are well organized in the kitchen and know what we are doing preparing gravy and biscuit from scratch, takes about the same as making it from ready-made ingredients and a little bit of extra effort.

Unfortunately, the end results may not reflect our energy investment in kneading our own biscuit or flavoring our own ground meat since we’ll pour the whole thing full of creamy AKA white gravy, known in fancy circles as Béchamel sauce.

Originally, white gravy, similar to other gravies, was meant to pick up all the leftover flavors that sausages leave in the skillet so if our meat lacks excitement, our white gravy will definitely follow suit.

Luckily, flavoring meat is not that hard and anybody with a half decent collection of spices and herbs can make it. Sure, nowadays we can simply buy some already flavored ground meat in a form of sausage but that many times also mean, we don’t actually buy meat but many other things, including some sort of added sugar like dextrose, filled into the casing.

So, while making our own biscuit may takes some extra labor and preparing our own meat some daring creativity with the spices of our cupboard if we care about what takes us through a day of hard work, it is worth to invest a bit of extra effort into our meals to make them taste a bite more like home.

Gravy-and-biscuit-casserole-recipe-4-SunCakeMom

Ingredients

Beginner

1 tablespoon / 15g Cooking oil
1 lb / 500g Pork sausage (sliced, diced or casing removed)
3 tablespoons / 50g Butter
6 tablespoons / 50g Flour
2 cups / 500g Milk
1 teaspoon / 5g Salt
½ teaspoon / 1.5g Black pepper (optional)
1 tube / 340g Biscuit dough (refrigerated)
6 medium / 300g Eggs
½ cup / 120g Milk

Advanced

Biscuit

2 cups / 240g Plain white flour
2 tablespoons / 25g Butter
1 medium / 50g Egg
1 tablespoon / 15g Milk (adjust according to dough needs, sometimes adding egg is enough)
1 teaspoon / 3.5g Baking powder (follow instructions on packaging)

Meat

1 lb / 500g Pork sausage

Gravy

3 tablespoons / 50g Butter
6 tablespoons / 50g Flour
1 teaspoon / 5g Salt
½ teaspoon / 1.5g Black pepper (optional)
2 cups / 500g Milk
1 cup / 100g Shredded cheese
6 medium / 300g Eggs
½ cup / 120g Milk

Overkill

Biscuit

2 cups / 240g Plain white flour
2 tablespoons / 25g Butter
1 medium / 50g Egg
1 tablespoon / 15g Milk (adjust according to dough needs, sometimes adding egg is enough)
1 teaspoon / 3.5g Baking powder (follow instructions on packaging)

Meat

3 cloves / 12g Garlic
1 lb / 500g Pork (ground)
2 teaspoons / 12g Salt
1 teaspoon / 3g Black pepper (optional)
2 teaspoons / 7g Paprika

Gravy

3 tablespoons / 50g Butter
6 tablespoons / 50g Flour
1 teaspoon / 5g Salt
½ teaspoon / 1.5g Black pepper (optional)
2 cups / 500g Milk (low fat)
6 medium / 300g Eggs
½ cup / 120g Milk (low fat)
1 cup / 100g Shredded cheese

How to make Biscuit and gravy casserole

Beginner

Heat oil in a skillet and add the sliced, diced sausage. We can also put the sausages simply into the hot oil and break them up there. Cook until the meat is browned and no pink color is visible, optimally sear the meat until one side is golden brown. Once it is done, take it off the heat and let it cool down. While the meat is being done, we can start making the Béchamel, A.K.A white gravy.
Heat butter then whisk in flour until lump free uniform texture, roux, is achieved. For more detailed instructions check out: Béchamel Sauce Recipe
Whisk in milk. Cold milk may help us avoid the flour lumping up, also if we let the roux cool a bit.
Stir vigorously until a lump free texture. Add salt and pepper to taste then set it aside to let it cool a bit. We may mix in the juices left from searing the sausages.
Whisk eggs and milk in a bowl.
Place the biscuit dough at the bottom of a fairly deep oven safe dish. Some like to cut the biscuits up into quarters.
Spread the somewhat cooled seared sausages on top.
Sprinkle shredded cheese onto the meat layer.
Pour the beaten eggs and milk on top.
Spread the white gravy layer on top.
Place the biscuits and gravy casserole into the middle rack of a 350°F / 180°C preheated oven until the biscuits are baked (195°F / 90°C) and eggs are set, about 30 – 45 minutes.

Enjoy!

Advanced

Biscuit

Knead flour, butter, eggs, milk and baking powder with hands until we get an even texture. For more detailed instructions check out: Easy Cheese Biscuit Recipe
Sprinkle some flour on the table and put dough in the middle of it. Use a rolling pin to flat the dough about ½ inch / 1 cm heights. Cut out scones/biscuits with a smallish round cutter and place them onto a baking tray.

Meat

Heat oil in a skillet and add the sliced, diced sausage. We can also put the sausages simply into the hot oil and break them up there. Cook until the meat is browned and no pink color is visible, optimally sear the meat until one side is golden brown. Once it is done, take it off the heat and let it cool down a bit. While the meat is being done, we can make the Béchamel, A.K.A white gravy.

Gravy

Heat butter then whisk in flour until lump free uniform texture, roux, is achieved.
Whisk in milk. Cold milk may help us avoid the flour lumping up, so does the cool roux. Stir vigorously until a lump free texture. Add salt and pepper to taste then set it aside to let it cool a bit. We may mix in the juices left from searing the sausages.
Whisk eggs and milk in a bowl.
Place biscuit dough at the bottom of a fairly deep, oven safe dish. Some like to cut the biscuits up into quarters.
Spread the somewhat cooled seared sausages on top.
Sprinkle shredded cheese onto the meat layer then pour on top the beaten eggs and milk.
Spread the white gravy layer on top.
Place the biscuits and gravy casserole into the middle rack of a 350°F / 180°C preheated oven until the biscuits are baked (195°F / 90°C) and eggs are set, about 30 – 45 minutes.

Overkill

Biscuit

Knead flour, butter, eggs, milk and baking powder with hands until we get an even texture. For more detailed instructions check out:Easy Cheese Biscuit Recipe
Sprinkle some flour on the table and put dough in the middle of it. Use a rolling pin to flat the dough about ½ inch / 1 cm heights. Cut out scones/biscuits with a smallish round cutter and place them onto a baking tray.
Heat oil in a skillet then stir in garlic until it gets a slight golden brown color, about 1 minute.

Meat

Mix in the ground pork then season with salt and pepper. Cook until the meat is browned and no pink color is visible, optimally sear the meat until one side is golden brown.
Season with spices of herbs of choice like paprika. Once it is done, take it off the heat and let it cool down a bit. While the meat is being done we can make the Béchamel, A.K.A white gravy.
Heat butter then whisk in flour until lump free uniform texture, roux is achieved.

Gravy

Whisk in milk. Cold milk may help us avoid the flour lumping up, so does if we let the roux cool a bit. Stir vigorously until a lump free texture. Add salt and pepper to taste then set it aside to let it cool a bit.
Whisk eggs and milk in a bowl.
Place biscuit dough at the bottom of a fairly deep, oven safe dish. Some like to cut the biscuits up into quarters.
Spread the somewhat cooled ground meat on top.
Sprinkle shredded cheese onto the meat layer then pour on top the beaten eggs and milk.
Spread the white gravy layer on top.
Place the biscuits and gravy casserole into the middle rack of a 350°F / 180°C preheated oven until the biscuits are baked (195°F / 90°C) and eggs are set, about 30 – 45 minutes.