Poached Eggs, Biscuits & Sausage Gravy

Photo by Katie Kay

I have to confess, I had visions of poaching dozens of eggs before getting this right, similar to Julie & Julia.  Thankfully it only took me 5 tries to get 2 good eggs.  This worked for me because nobody else wanted poached eggs ruining their biscuits and gravy.  Poached eggs seemed very 'New Orleans' to me, so I went for it.

These are my poached eggs.  I've seen better (not in my kitchen) and I've seen worse (the 3 eggs before these 2) but they were perfectly soft in the inside and worked great with this recipe!  Especially because for the most part, these puppies are totally hidden by the peppery sausage gravy. Your poached eggs can be ugly as sin and nobody but you will know.

Photo by Katie Kay

These biscuits were a little dense, but that was probably operator error.  They tasted fantastic though, and I snacked on a plain one while I waited for my gravy to simmer.  This was a surprisingly quick recipe to make.  I don't typically make biscuits from scratch on a weeknight but since these didn't have to rise, I had dinner ready in less than 40 minutes!
The gravy was the absolute best thing about this recipe.  This will definitely be my go-to recipe for sausage gravy for the rest of my life.

Photo by Katie Kay

Poached Eggs, Biscuits & Sausage Gravy by Chef Alex Harrell at Sylvain from New Orleans Classic Brunches
Cream Biscuits
2 cups flour 1 tsp salt 1 tbsp baking powder 2 tsp sugar 1 cup heavy cream 2 tbsp melted butter
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Sift the dry ingredients together and fold in the heavy cream until it makes a soft dough.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead to bring together.  Roll out to a thickness of 1/2 of an inch and cut with a round cutter.  Place on a baking sheet and brush the tops with melted butter.  Bake for 15-18 minutes.
Gravy
2 tbsp butter 2 cups fresh ground sausage 2 tbsp flour 1 cup heavy cream 2 cups milk 1 tsp fresh ground pepper salt and pepper to taste chives for garnish
Heat the butter over medium to high heat and brown the sausage.  Whisk in the flour and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes.  Add the cream and milk slowly and whisk until smooth. Reduce heat and simmer the gravy for 20 minutes, stirring frequently.  Season with salt and pepper
Poached Eggs
2 eggs per person
Fill a saucepan with 2 or 3 inches of water, bringing it to a simmer.  Avoid broken yolks by cracking the egg into a cup or saucer before sliding the whole egg into the simmering water.  Using spoon, baste them for 3 minutes to cook the yolks to the desired softness.  Remove with a slotted spoon and drain.
To serve, place 2 biscuits on each plate.  Top each with a poached egg and ladle the gravy over them.  Garnish with chives and serve any extra gravy on the side.