Biscuits and Gravy and more...

What a weekend!!!  Lots of good food and fun.  Food is my shtick, so I love it when it comes out successful and I was not disappointed.  Friday night was cheese burger and fries, Saturday morning brought sausage gravy and biscuits and fried potatoes and Sunday a new preparation for orange roughy.  Yummmmm!!!

Friday night's cheeseburger!

The spicy cheeseburger is just ground round with minced garlic and red pepper flakes mixed in.  I salt and pepper it before I put it in the skillet and when it is almost done I pop the colby cheese on top and lid it so the steam makes the cheese become a gooey mess.  This time I sauteed some onions in olive oil with some salt and pepper and put them on top of the burger right under the cheese.  A little smear of some light mayo on some toasted sourdough bread and Yummm.  The fries are simply potatoes peeled and wedged.  Rinse and dry them off and then toss them with some olive oil, salt, pepper, chopped fresh rosemary and sprinkle on the dried ancho chili powder. Cook them for about 45 minutes in a 450 degree oven. All of the spice amounts should be to your taste.  We like it spicy so I went heavy on the pepper and ancho chili powder.

Biscuits and gravy...need I say more?

Breakfast...I really like breakfast.  We had the guys this weekend and my budding young chef, Nick, wanted to venture away from the normal french toast.  I assumed it was because we had finally got the biscuits down and he wanted to include them.  We decided we needed two batches worth so I mixed up one and he did the other.  He is becoming quite the biscuit maker.  I am jealous.  It took me 51 years to get them down and he is only 14.  No fair!!!  But, I digress.  So, what goes better with biscuits than sausage gravy?  Not much!!  I won't bore you with the biscuit recipe since I put it in a previous post and the egg is merely egg, salt and pepper in a nonstick pan and you let it cook flat and flip it and fold it onto the plate.  I will share the sausage gravy and potato recipe though, since they were the stars of the show.

Sausage Gravy

1 pound sausage (your favorite)

6 tablespoons bacon grease (come on, you know you have some in the fridge)

1/4 cup flour

3 cups milk

1 cup heavy cream

salt and pepper.

Over medium high heat break up and fry your sausage.  When it is done take it out of the pan to give yourself some room.  Leave the sausage grease and add the bacon grease to the pan.  If your sausage was really greasy you need to cut down on the bacon grease.  My pan was almost dry when my sausage was done so  I used all the bacon grease.  Turn the heat down to medium and add the flour.  Whisk that into the grease and cook for about four minutes.  You want all the raw flour taste gone.  And by the way, you are making a roux at this point.  Another one of those fancy words.  After the flour is cooked down add the milk and heavy cream and whisk like crazy. When I added the milk it instantly began to boil and  you want this to boil but then turn it down to a simmer so it thickens up.  Now is the time to taste for pepper and salt content.  We like ours really peppery so I always do about 10 grinds and go from there.  Don't forget, you used bacon grease so the salt might not be needed.  Add the sausage back in and just keep stirring off and on for about 10 minutes.  If it does not seem thick enough you could always add a little corn starch slurry.

Fried Potatoes

4 potatoes, peeled and cubed 

1/2 onion finely chopped

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 tablespoon bacon grease

salt and pepper

Rinse your potatoes and then pat them as dry as you can.  Put the bacon grease in a skillet on medium heat and add the onion and garlic.  Salt and pepper, you want to season each step.  Let these cook for about three minutes while you dry your potatoes.  Add the potatoes to the skillet, salt and pepper than put a lid on the skillet.  This will cause the potatoes to steam and cook through.  Leave them, stirring a couple of times, for 10 minutes.  Take the lid off, taste a tater to see if they are cooked through.  If they are, leave the lid off and they will start to brown up.  I usually cook them for about 10 more minutes at this point to get some color and crunch but they are pretty flexible and will sit for a while until you are ready.  We needed and extra minute for the double batch of biscuits and the potatoes were fine.

Orange Roughy...my new fav

Dinner on Sunday was a new preparation for orange roughy.  Nick had wanted to make a previous fish recipe from the blog but we were still full from breakfast and never got to dinner.  I checked a couple of websites and they recommended not holding fish in the fridge for more than two days so we had to have the fish for dinner.  I looked on line and kind of made up my own take on a couple of recipes I found.  I paired it with a bag of Uncle Ben's basmati rice and Pepperidge Farm garlic bread and of course our favorite side dish.  I just mixed the green beans and asparagus because I didn't have enough of just one for the dish.  It turned out great!

Parmesaan Crusted Orange Roughy

4 fish fillets
1/2 lemon juiced
salt and pepper
1/2 cup grated parm cheese
3 tablespoons I Can't Believe it Not Butter softened (microwave about 10 sec)
3 tablespoons light mayo
2 tablespoon garlic whole grain mustard


Place the fish on a baking sheet and cover with the lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Broil for eight minutes.  Mix the other ingredients to top the fish.  After the eight minutes pull the fish out and cover with the topping.  Broil for an additional three minutes.  It's really that easy!

Very tasty.  Every meal.  And totally satisfying.  I really love cooking.  It's like offering yourself up on a plate to the ones you love.  It's my way of saying I love you.  My Dad always greeted everyone, whether on the phone or in person, with the question "Whatcha got to eat?".  If you were on the phone, he proceeded to tell you, in length, about what he had for dinner.  If you should walk in the door, he would take you to the kitchen and start pulling food out of the refrigerator.  That was just his way, and I guess I inherited that gene. Food is in my blood.  And on my thighs...and hips....sigh

I don't care!  Bring on the good food!!!