Crossing biscuits and gravy with chicken pot pies! Our deconstructed pot pie? Or our open-faced pot pie? Whatever it is, it's freaking delicious.
Justin had been wanting to do pot pies recently; the traditional kind with a pie crust. We even bought a perfect sized ramekin to make a family-size one in. But... he's been on another Southern Style Buttermilk Biscuit kick and made such a perfect, huge batch. We'd recently seen some traveling food show where a restaurant was known for their chicken pot pie biscuits and gravy and we both drooled on ourselves a little when we saw it. We had the biscuits, we had the chicken, we had most of the vegetables... it was on!
I just roasted some seasoned chicken thighs at 425 degrees F for 30 minutes. I leave the skin on while cooking and it comes out ridiculously crispy, like cracklins or chicharrones. Then I removed it before pulling the meat off the bone. I'm not going to lie... I ate 2 of the skins straight up and felt guilt. Massive, delicious guilt. I just threw the remaining skins into our freezer bag of broth-makin' scraps, but I kind of wish I'd kept one of the super crispy ones to chop up and sprinkle on top of the plated biscuit pot pies.
The potatoes I cooked real quick while I was chopping up and sauteing the veggies, it doesn't take too long to cook them. The instructions are below.
This recipe makes a large amount of gravy/pot pie filling. If it's more than you want, you can always freeze it. Or just cut the recipe in half. Or make somebody's day by sharing it with them... that's what we did. Justin took most of the batch to work to share with his coworkers since it's just the two of us at home.
Going back a little ways with some Stiff Little Fingers doing "Straw Dogs".
BUTTERMILK BISCUIT CHICKEN POT PIES Time: about 35 minutes Difficulty: Easy Makes: about 10 cups (10 servings - large batch!)
12 tablespoons butter (1.5 sticks)
2 cups carrots, diced 1/2" (about 3 medium)
1.5 cup celery, diced 1/2" (about 2 stalks)
1.5 cup onion, diced 1/2" (about 1 medium)
1.5 cups crimini mushrooms, diced
1 teaspoon rubbed sage
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon turmeric (optional for colour)
3/4 cup flour
5 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 cups potatoes (about 1 medium), diced 1/2" and cooked (see How To below)
In a large skillet or stock pot (that holds at least 4 quarts), melt butter over medium-high heat. Add carrots and celery, cook about 5 minutes. Add onion and mushrooms, cook 3-4 minutes until onions are translucent. Add sage, black pepper and turmeric, cook 1 minute. Add flour and stir until incorporated, cook 3-4 minutes. Pour in chicken broth and whisk until thickened, about 5 minutes. Turn heat to medium and stir in heavy cream, potatoes, peas, chicken, hot sauce and basil. Add salt to taste and serve over Southern Style Buttermilk Biscuits.
How To Boil Potatoes Dice potato into 1/2" cubes. Place potatoes in a large pot. Add cold water to cover 1" above the potatoes. Add a generous amount of salt. Bring to a boil and cook about 6 minutes. Potatoes should be cooked through but still firm.
When I moved to Northern California ten years ago, I noticed the biscuits here were different than what I'd grown up with in the midwest (which were southern style biscuits). Here in NorCal, they make what I think of as "lumberjack" biscuits - they're dense and heavy, a little crumbly like cake. Biscuits and gravy used to be one of my favourite things to order for breakfast, but I had to quit ordering it out here because I just couldn't dig on the cakey biscuits.
So... like everything else I'm dissatisfied with, I decided to make my own. It took a couple of tries... but these are the perfect biscuit! Better than most I've had in the midwest or south (someone's southern grandma is going to skin my hide for saying that). Fluffy, flaky, buttery layers. They're awesome. Justin's been making them on a pretty regular basis... they're not difficult and they don't take much time at all. The last couple of nights, we've been eating them as maple-sausage egg sandwiches, topped with our neighbour's homemade apple-jalepeño jelly. (The neighbour guy gave us a bunch of canned jellies and jams when I took him and his dad some coconut-banana marshmallow squares! Awesome neighbour bartering!)
I asked Justin what song we should use for this recipe... he said some Op Ivy sounded good to him. I love "Unity", but I can't hear it without thinking of Dave Chappelle and the Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories with Rick James.... "UNITYYY!" -jen
SOUTHERN STYLE BUTTERMILK BISCUITS
Time: about 30 minutes Difficulty: Medium Makes: 9 large biscuits
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper (optional - we like them a little peppery)
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and black pepper. Cut butter into flour until pea-size (you can use a dough cutter or just work it in with your fingers, but you don't want to handle the butter too much so that it softens). Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and add milk. Stir or mix with your hands just until the dough comes together. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Dust the top of the dough. Fold dough over onto itself 3-5 times - this is what creates flaky layers. Press out into 3/4"-1" square. Cut evenly into 9 pieces. Place biscuits onto an ungreased baking sheet. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter and brush over the tops. Bake at 450 degrees F for 12-17 minutes, until biscuits are golden brown and done in the center.
I have no intro to this recipe, really. I love cheese and garlic biscuits. I wanted some. Been on a bacon kick. Decided to add bacon. Made them. They rocked!
(As much as I love bacon, I don't think I'm ready to make this monster yet, though. Look, two recipes for the price of one!)
We both reeeeeeeeally liked these biscuits; they didn't last long at all.
Don't remember what I was listening to when making these - it was a while ago; I've been slacking with the posting. But as I wrote it up tonight, I was listening to a little Lars Frederiksen and The Bastards (and some Rancid, and some Choking Victim, and some Minor Threat...) But here's a little Lars and a little biscuits. -jen
GARLIC CHEESE AND BACON BISCUITS
10 strips bacon
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons dill, dried (optional)
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
few grinds of fresh cracked black pepper
1 cup milk
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup monterey jack cheeese, shredded
Preheat oven to 425 F.
Chop uncooked bacon into small pieces. Cook over medium high heat until crispy. Drain and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, dill, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper. Mix well. Make a well in the middle of the dry mixture and add milk, butter, bacon and cheese. Mix by hand just until dry ingredients are combined (mix as little as possible!) Using a 1/4 cup measurement, drop biscuits onto an ungreased baking sheet about an inch apart.
Bake until golden brown, 20-22 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. I recommend removing them from the pan immediately (or at least flip them and let them rest on their tops). Otherwise the bottom of the biscuits continue to cook and can get too dark.
Makes about 8 biscuits.
Check out that fancy paper plating! Hey, I've got the rustic veggie thing going on behind it!
Biscuits and gravy is not entirely uncommon in our house. It was one of my favourite meals that we had when I was a kid. My mom's father was from Tennessee and she spent summers there as a kid, watching the women cook giant Southern meals from morning until night. When I was younger and there were four of us kids to feed, money was tight, so we had a version of Shit On A Shingle that was made with Buddig's beef lunch meat all chopped up in it, over Bisquick drop biscuits. I loved it. Once I got older and the older boys had moved out, my dad started making his gravy with sausage, which needless to say, was much better. Growing up in California, Justin says he never even heard of "biscuits and gravy" as a kid until he'd joined the army at 17 and was introduced to their version of S.O.S. But once I moved in with him, it became a more regular meal in our home... breakfast, dinner, it didn't matter.
Today, we decided to change it up. Instead of our regular, quick Bisquick drop biscuits, Justin the Mighty and Awesome Baker I made some old school Southern biscuits... made with lard and rolled out on the counter top. They came out so-so. I'll post how I did the recipe, and though they weren't bad, they were kind of small and needed something else, so it's a work in progress until I get it right. And instead of making my basic sausage gravy, I tried a few new things and am definitely happy with the results! I always just ground the breakfast sausage up and no matter how much I tried chopping it up with the wooden spoon in the pan, or adding water while cooking, it stayed pretty chunky and I just wanted to get it a little finer for the gravy. So I threw it into the food processor after it was cooked. Perfect! Also, been on a bit of a shallot kick, so added that to the gravy, as well as some Gruyere cheese just to be experimental. It kicks ass! I really wanted to make my own breakfast sausage, but it was getting late when I started cooking, so I just bought some Jimmy Dean sausage and spiced it up. Here it is... guaranteed to cause a heart attack... our version of Biscuits and Gravy!
For music, well... that was pretty easy. B&G make me think of my mom's family, from Tennessee. Tennessee makes me think of Nashville and Memphis. Those towns make me think of rockabilly music, which led me straight to psychobilly and The Reverend. -jen
SAUSAGE GRAVY
2 pounds breakfast sausage
2 teaspoons rubbed sage
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
couple dashes Worcestershire sauce
2 large shallots, diced fine
2 sticks (1 cup) butter
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Caldo de Pollo (or chicken bouillon)
1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (depending on taste)
dash of hot sauce
1/2 gallon of whole milk
1.5 cups Gruyere cheese, shredded fine
In a bowl, mix sausage with sage, 1 teaspoon thyme, marjoram, celery salt, red pepper flakes and Worcestershire sauce. In a large skillet on medium-high heat, cook sausage until all pink is gone. Set aside to cool. Once cool, place in food processor and pulse until crumbled to desire size.
In a large skillet, on medium-high heat, sautee shallots and butter until shallots are tender. Add flour and whisk until smooth, making a roux. Cook, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes. While whisking, add milk and bring to a boil while continuing to whisk to break up any lumps. Once boiling, turn heat to medium and add Gruyere in small handfuls, whisking until cheese is fully incorporated in sauce before adding next handful. When cheese is fully melted in sauce, stir in the sausage and serve.
For the biscuits, I used Paula Deen's recipe, only I switched up the butter with lard, and the milk with buttermilk. Like I said... they were definitely edible! But I think I rolled out the dough a little thin and the flavour was missing something. So I'm going to tweek it a few times and see what I can come up with.
