Sweet Potato Biscuits with Chorizo Cream Gravy

My friend A had received sweet potatoes from a friend with a farm. Her husband isn't a huge fan so she gave me some potatoes. I had been eying this recipe from Homesick Texan for some time.

Well we now had the sweet potatoes, the chorizo and milk, so D and I made this.

The biscuits aren't sweet, but good. The gravy is good. D said this was restaurant worthy. I haven't run the NI yet. Not sure I want to know.

Will have again.

Sweet Potato Biscuits with Chorizo Cream Gravy

Photo by ALB

Sweet potato biscuit ingredients:
1 sweet potato (about 1/2 pound)
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon chipotle powder
8 tablespoons (1 stick) of cold butter, sliced
1/2 cup buttermilk or half-and-half (probably used 3/4C after everything was said and done)

Chorizo cream gravy ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 pound Mexican chorizo, crumbled
2 tablespoons of flour

1 1/2 cups of milk
 (used 2%)
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
Salt black pepper and chipotle powder to taste.

Method:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Poke holes in the sweet potato with a fork and place on a foil-lined sheet. Place in the oven and cook until tender, about 1 hour. (used the microwave)

Leaving the oven on, remove the sweet potato and slice in half, lengthwise. Scoop out 1/2 cup of flesh, reserving the rest for another use.

Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and chipotle powder. Cut the stick of butter into pieces, and work into the flour mixture with your hands or a pastry blender until it resembles pea-sized crumbs. Stir in the 1/2 cup of cooked sweet potato and the buttermilk, mixing until a bit loose and sticky.

Pour dough out on a floured surface, and knead for a minute. The dough will be smooth but a bit wetter than a regular biscuit dough, so you can sprinkle more flour on the surface if you find it’s sticking too much. Take the dough into a ball, and hit it with a rolling pin, turning it and folding it in half every few whacks. Do this for a couple of minutes. Roll out dough until it’s a quarter of an inch thick and then fold it in half.

Using a round cutter (can use a glass or a cup if don’t have a biscuit cutter) cut out your biscuits from folded dough. Place on a greased baking sheet or in a cast-iron skillet close together (so they rise up not out) and bake for 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

While the biscuits are baking, make the chorizo gravy. Warm the oil in a skillet on medium heat, and cook the chorizo until browned. With a slotted spatula, remove chorizo from the skillet and place on a plate. Drain the oil from the pan reserving 2 tablespoons in the skillet.

Combine the oil in the pan with the flour in a hot skillet and while continuously stirring cook on medium low for a couple of minutes until a roux is formed. Add milk slowly to skillet and mix with the roux using either a whisk or wooden spoon (be sure and press out any lumps). Turn heat to low and continue stirring until mixture is thickened, a couple more minutes. 


Stir in the chorizo and cilantro, and add salt, black pepper and chipotle powder to taste. If gravy is too thick for your taste, you can thin it by adding either more milk or water a tablespoon at a time.

To assemble the biscuits and gravy, slice each biscuit in half and drizzle with gravy.

Yield: 4-6 servings

Nutritional Information (built in SparkPeople)- 4 Servings
Calories: 678.3; Total Fat: 36.4 g; Saturated Fat: 19.9 g; Polyunsaturated Fat 2.2 g; Monounsaturated Fat: 11.7 g; Cholesterol: 93.6 mg; Sodium: 1,807.5 mg; Potassium: 282.0 mg; Total Carbohydrate: 68.5 g; Dietary Fiber: 2.6 g; Sugars: 6.7 g; Protein: 18.9 g