Linda, the author of one of my favorite gluten free blogs, "The Gluten Free Homemaker" has been hosting a weekly gluten free blogging carnival focusing on the theme of "What's for Dinner." I've been meaning to participate in Linda's event for quite some time! This week I just happened to have something perfect for "What's for Dinner" Wednesday.
My friend Clara inspired me a few weeks ago to make sausage gravy and biscuits. She mentioned making it for dinner on our Gluten Free Recipe Swap Group and it reminded me of a favorite childhood comfort food. My mother always made a milk gravy with using meaty, browned ground hamburger and flour as a thickener. I loved that gravy. It was simple, delicious, and filling. I honestly could not remember the last time I made mom's hamburger gravy (which we simply referred to as "gravy" growing up) and I decided to try and make it.
The challenge in re-creating my mom's gravy was finding a milk substitute and using something other than flour as a thickener. On Clara's good judgment I decided to use sweet rice flour as my thickener, and I chose to use a combination of unsweetened almond and hemp milk as the liquid for my gravy. It turned out delicious! This gluten free, casein free gravy is a super fast, easy, and comforting dinner!
We've made this gravy 3 times now and I think it's fast becoming a favorite comfort food once again! This gravy is lower in carbohydrates than gravy made with dairy milk, and we served this over gluten free, lower carb biscuits. I'll post the biscuit recipe soon, but until then, feel free to use my master mix biscuits (minus the cheese) or Linda's World Famous Drop Biscuits! They have RAVE reviews!! To make them casein free simply use coconut oil in place of the butter and almond or hemp milk in place of the dairy. They are light, fluffy, and everything a good biscuit should be!
Carrie's Hamburger Gravy
(Gluten Free, Casein Free, Soy Free)
1 lb. ground beef
1 cup almond milk (or regular milk)
1 cup hemp milk (or regular milk)
2 tablespoons sweet rice flour or cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt-free seasoning, such as SPIKE
1 teaspoon garlic granules, such as SPIKE
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (*optional)
In a heavy bottomed skillet, brown ground beef. Sprinkle sweet rice flour (or cornstarch) over browned ground beef. Stir to coat. Add almond and hemp milk, stirring or whisking with ground beef until thick and creamy. Add more milk if gravy is too thick. Add spices and let simmer for another 5 minutes. Serve over hot gluten free biscuits or toast! Enjoy!! Makes 4-5 large servings.
Carrie's Notes:
* Nutritional Yeast -- I added this ingredient to the gravy to add a "cheesy" type of flavor which we loved. While nutritional yeast doesn't taste exactly like cheese, it added the lovely deep flavors that cheese often adds to dishes!
*Add flavors that you like! Sage, thyme, even rosemary might add a wonderful savory touch to this gravy.
*I used hemp milk and almond milk, both of the products I use are unsweetened and therefore have very few calories and carbohydrates, they are great alternatives not only to dairy milk, but to non-dairy milk products with higher carbohydrate counts. Make sure to read the ingredients of non-dairy milk options, many have added sugar to sweeten them.
