Order Up!: Breakfast of Champions: Sausage Gravy

It is a warm 71 degrees here in South Florida making the whole "winter blues" thing very easy to deal with. The only downside of winter under the palms is that it is very hard to enjoy comfort food. I mean who really wants a heaping bowl of chili covered in melting yellow cheddar, crispy tortilla strips, and cool sour cream in the middle of a New England Summer? Not that many people, besides me, but I like to think I am the exception.

Regardless, I still make comfort food for Justin and I. Every now and again, usually when I have a day off or I go in to work late, I will make us a small batch of sausage gravy. Every time I whip up a bit of this super simple breakfast I think of two things: my mom ALWAYS mixing the milk and the flour together in drinking glass and waking up to the smell of it flooding the vacation house in Deep Creek Lake.

The best part of sausage gravy is how easy and versitile it is. Take out the sausage and add ham for a delicious alternative. Exchange the protien for spinach, corn, chard, etc. for creamed veggies. Leave out all of the add ins and pour that sawmill gravy over a pan fried pork cutlet and I am sure no one will complain.

Sausage Gravy

Yield: Enough to feed 4 hungry campers

1 pound Ground Sausage

1/2 Tbsp Butter

1 1/2 tsp Ground Thyme

4 oz All Purpose Flour

16 oz Milk, divided into 12oz and 4oz

Salt and Fresh Cracked Pepper

Biscuits, Toast, Bagels, Something delicious to serve it over!

Directions:

1. In a medium sized pot, heat the butter over medium heat.

2. Once melted, add the sausage, salt, pepper, and thyme. Break the sausage up with a wooden spoon into small pieces.

3. While the sausage is browning, mix 12oz of the milk with the flour. This is the part that my mom does in a drinkng glass with a fork, so I recommend you do the same.

4. Once the sausage is completely cooked, add the milk mixture.

5. Stirring occsionally, bring the mix to a boil for about three minutes. By the end of the three minutes the gravy should look rich and luscious. Here is where the extra milk comes in: in case it starts to clump together or look a little too much like paste, add it and stir.

6. Serve over your favorite breakfast bread with plenty of fresh cracked black pepper and a cup of coffee.