My home in Alexandria, Virginia is the culinary Mason-Dixon line. Or, as I call it, the Hash-Biscuits line. You see, when I travel North, I assess the fitness of a classic diner by its corned beef hash. But, when I drive south, my eyes shift to the biscuits and gravy! The deeper I go, the spicier I expect it to be. Here lies my ode to what biscuits and gravy should be right around, say, Atlanta. Oh, and out of fairness, anything spicy should be red in hue. Pro tip.
Ingredients
GRAVY
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup + 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided
- 1 lb Andouille or other smoked sausage, finely diced
- 3 Tbsp tomato paste
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 5 cups milk
- 1 Tbsp hot paprika
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup parsley, chopped, divided
BISCUIT TOPPING
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1½ Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, cold, ¼ inch cubes
- 1¼ cup buttermilk
- 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
How to Make It
- Preheat oven to 400°F. To make the gravy, heat olive oil and ¼ cup of the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Once the butter melts, add sausage into the skillet. Sauté the sausage until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Stir in tomato paste. Sprinkle flour into the skillet and sauté this mixture for 2 minutes, stirring regularly. Slowly whisk in the milk, making sure there are no lumps. Stir in paprika, salt, and ½ cup of parsley. Continue to stir the mixture until it comes to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to low and allow the gravy to simmer, stirring occasionally, until it reaches a creamy gravy consistency, about 6 minutes. Using the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter, grease the bottom and sides of a baking dish. Carefully transfer skillet contents to the baking dish.
- To make the biscuits, in a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Add the butter cubes and incorporate into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter or squeeze with your fingertips until all pieces of butter are consistently smaller than peas. Add the buttermilk and quickly mix well with your hands, until dough forms.
- Dust the counter or a board with flour and transfer your dough from the bowl. Dust the top of the dough with more flour and begin to flatten and mold with your hand or a floured rolling pin. Roll the dough until it is a ¾-inch thick rectangle. Fold the dough in half once and roll back to ¾ inch thick. Cut the dough into rough squares. Place dough squares atop the gravy in the baking dish. It’s okay if they sink into the gravy a bit. You may have extra dough—bake standalone biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet.
- Drizzle the top of the dough squares with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Transfer the baking dish to the oven and bake for 25–30 minutes, or until the biscuit tops are golden brown. Allow the casserole to cool for 5 minutes and garnish with the remaining parsley before scooping out some of the gravy with each biscuit.
