Tomato Gravy & Biscuits



Tomato gravy & biscuits by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books



 Before the tomatoes fade for another summer, do yourself a favor and make tomato gravy and biscuits for yourself and your family. This isn't the kind of "gravy" or "sauce" that you serve with pasta, just a creamy white gravy with chopped tomatoes, cooked up in a cast iron skillet and served over split buttermilk biscuits. 

My mother was a fine cook, but I did not grow up with this dish. I discovered it through other cooks and writers. Scott Peacock and Edna Lewis write about it in "Gift of Southern Cooking," and if I remember correctly, serve the gravy with fried chicken.

Cooks can spend a lifetime perfecting their biscuit recipes, and I've tried quite a few, but I always go back to the recipe on the back of the bag of White Lily self-rising flour, using whole fat buttermilk, when I can find it, and brushing the tops of the biscuits with melted butter.

This recipe can be made with bacon fat instead of butter. I usually serve bacon alongside and keep the butter in the gravy. 

Farmers' market heirloom tomatoes by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Tomato Gravy

2 tbsp. butter

1/2 cup onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

salt and freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

3 ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped

1 cup milk

1. In a heavy skillet, melt butter and saute onion until softened. Add garlic, salt and pepper and cook for another minute.

2. Sprinkle the flour over and cook, stirring well for another couple minutes.

3. Stir in the chopped tomato and cook for five more minutes. Slowly add the milk and bring to a simmer. Taste for seasoning, adjust. Serve warm with split buttermilk biscuits and a side of bacon.

Text & images copyright 2010, Lucy Mercer.

Tuesday Night Supper

Here's my Tuesday night menu, using two items from the CSA bag - red, ripe tomatoes and fresh zucchini.

Tomato Gravy with Buttermilk Biscuits

Crispy Bacon

Grilled Zucchini

Pineapple Ice Cream Sandwiches

I tried a new buttermilk biscuit recipe, this time from Treasury of Southern Baking by Prudence Hilburn, one of those books I look through a lot and rarely cook from. Her biscuit technique is interesting - using self-rising flour, buttermilk and lard (I subbed Crisco), she mixes all three ingredients together by hand simultaneously. I need to work on my technique, but the biscuits were indeed tender and tasty.

I topped the biscuits with tomato gravy, which is a perfect pantry meal in the wintertime, using canned tomatoes, but heaven in the summer with fresh tomatoes.

Tomato Gravy

from Gift of Southern Cooking by Scott Peacock and Edna Lewis

2 tbsp. bacon fat
1 cup diced onion
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 pound tomato, fresh or canned, peeled, seeded, and chopped into 1/2 inch pieces to yield 3/4 cup
1 cup milk

1. Heat the bacon fat in a heavy nonreactive skillet and add the diced onion. Saute over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, stirring often.

2. Add the garlic, 1/2 tsp. of the salt, the pepper and thyme, and cook for another 5 minutes.

3. Sprinkle the flour over and cook, stirring well, for another 2 minutes.

4. Stir in the chopped tomato and the remaining 1/2 tsp. of the salt and cook 5 minutes longer. Slowly stir in the milk and cream and bring to a simmer. Gently simmer for 5 minutes. Taste carefully for seasoning, adding more salt and pepper as needed. Serve hot.