A Comforting Van Life Breakfast

Cowboy Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

Hubs was craving biscuits and gravy. When he asked for it, I gently reminded him that there is no oven in the van. His reply? You know that super boring movie I watch about the old guy that lives alone in the woods? He has a biscuit every day with no oven. My reply? I wouldn’t know, I always fall asleep.

Well, sensing he didn’t enjoy my sarcasm, I googled it and sure enough, you can make biscuits on the stove top in a trusty cast iron pan.

ps. If you need a nap google Dick Proenneke, Alone in the Wilderness. To learn about him click here.

For the biscuits you will need: (makes 6 biscuits)

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tbsp baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tbsp cold butter, plus some for cooking the biscuits

1/2 cup buttermilk

To make the biscuits:

Put the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and whisk very well. Cut the butter into small pieces and add it to the dry mixture. Use a pastry cutter or two butter knives to mix the butter into the dry mixture, until the butter is in small, pea-sized pieces. It will look like a crumbly mess.  

Make a hole in the middle of your crumbly mess, and add the buttermilk. Whisk it all together, but don’t handle it too much. I promise it should still look like a mess, but if you REALLY think it is too dry, you can add a bit more buttermilk.

Now for the fun part… on a lightly floured surface, with lightly floured hands (and some flour ready to go on the quick if needed to keep everything lightly floured, take the dough out of the bowl and shape a loose ball. Next, flatten it out into a rectangle. Fold it in half and now make a rectangle in a couple directions. Do this one to two more times until you have a rectangle about 7 inches by 5 inches. 

Take a biscuit cutter (or a glass with a diameter of about 3 inches – cause who has a biscuit cutter at home, let alone in a van) and flour it too. Press the cutter (or cup) into the dough, but don’t turn it (you don’t want to crate a seal on the edges) to make the biscuits. You will have other reform the dough a few times to use all of it. For me, I got six biscuits – but it will depend on your “cutter”.

Heat your cast iron over medium to medium-low heat. You will want the biscuits to cook for 6-7 minutes per side without burning, so be sure to adjust the heat if they are browning too quickly.

Remove from the pan, and set aside while you make the Sausage Gravy.

Ingredients (three servings, unless you have a hubs then it might be two):

1/2 pound breakfast sausage

2 tbsp all purpose flour

3/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

1 1/4 cups whole milk

Over medium heat, brown the sausage, breaking it up as you go. Once all the pink is gone, sprinkle the flour and pepper over the top and stir constantly, for about 3 minutes. Add the milk slowly, while stirring. Cook over the slightest simmer, stirring frequently, until the gravy thickens to where it will coat the back of your spoon. If it gets too think, just add a bit more milk.

To serve, place a couple biscuits on a plate and spoon the gravy over top. Enjoy!