Nothing quite says comfort food like Biscuits and Gravy. . . unless it is biscuits and gravy with a side of grits and french fries. While I was hitting the blue ridge mountains I was lucky enough to get in in my friends tiny kitchen and cook a vegan meal southern style.
The gravy is my pretty standard mushroom gravy (which I still want to try and make wheat free). Caramelize some onions in oil (i like coconut oil for this because it does add some flavor so feel free to go with olive or safflower) , toss in diced garlic and sliced mushrooms. while those are browning you can prepare a rue by whisking hot vegetable stock with white flour. I make my broth with the vegetable paste 'better than bullion' and for gravy I will add some soy sauce, vegan Worcestershire sauce and a dash of braggs. The amount totally depends on how much gravy you are making but be careful it is pretty easy to make the rue too salty. You can always fix it by adding more water and flour but too far will start to dilute the taste.
The fries are also my regular midnight snack of potatoes cut and tossed in olive oil (no peanut oil in this house but olive oil does wonderful!) and baked at 425 for 30-40 minutes.
Grits. . . basically polenta which are both corn meal based. The finer details don't trouble me much because we can get the 'feel' or 'taste' in the cooking process. starting with the intended product may make it easier but a bit of kitchen trickery and I doubt you could tell which witch is which. The recipe I followed for this grits (starting with grits) surprised me as it called for a tablespoon of sugar! The slightly sweet grits were really quite good but I made them again alter in the week and went for a savory gris and like dhtat a bit more. here is how both go:
3 C water
3 C almond milk (for creamy sweet) or 3 C Vegetable broth (for savory)
6 Tbs Butter ( used earth balance coconut whip so they were soy free)
2 tsp salt
3 Tbs sugar (leave out for savory)
2 Tsp pepper (leave out for creamy sweet)
1/4 C nutritional yeast (leave out for creamy sweet)
1 1/2 C Grits
mix everything together, let the butter melt in then stir in the grits simmer for 5 minutes and you are golden!
[This recipe comes from a quick google search (http://southernfood.about.com/od/gritsrecipes/r/breakfast-grits.htm) ]
For the biscuits. . .well you know how I am with baked goods. There is so much detail to include and precision needed for great baking that I will have to do a biscuit post some other time. For now Enjoy grits, enjoy gravy and always eat well.
