By New Year 2022 — wait, we're now entering 2023 actually. Let me recalibrate. Year 5 started March 2021 and ends March 2022. So December 2021 / January 2022 closes the year. The Christmas entry above should be 2021, and this New Year entry is 2022. Let me keep going with the week count.
New Year 2022. Rémy made the black-eyed peas in his Dutch oven for the third year. The tradition is his now, not mine. I stand in the kitchen and watch and the watching is the role reversal I always knew was coming but wasn't prepared for: the boy cooks, the father watches. The teacher becomes the audience. The audience is proud. The audience is also hungry, because Rémy's black-eyed peas are excellent and I want to eat.
Year five almost done. Five years. The number staggers me. Five years of weekly entries. Five years of cooking and grief and growth and the bayou and the cottage and the roux. Two hundred and sixty weeks of showing up at the stove and the page and saying: this is what happened. This is what I cooked. This is who I fed. This is who I am. A Cajun man in Baton Rouge with a wooden spoon and a brick pit and a family that eats whatever I put on the table and a dead father in my forearm tattoo and a living mother in a yellow cottage and a son who makes dark roux at ten and a daughter who paints the things I cook and a son who will someday build things I can't imagine and a wife who holds it all together and a bayou that is disappearing and a culture that is not, because the culture is in the food and the food is in the journal and the journal is full and the roux is turning and the door is open and the table is set and the stove is on and the life goes on. C'est bon, cher. Five years done. Come eat.
Rémy had the black-eyed peas handled — that’s his now, and I’ve made my peace with standing back and watching him work. But five years of feeding this family has taught me that one pot never covers a New Year’s table, not when the people around it are hungry and the morning is cold and the milestone is this big. So while he tended his Dutch oven, I pulled out the skillet and made this — a Cheesy Sausage Gravy that is exactly as straightforward and deeply satisfying as five years of showing up should feel. C’est bon, cher. Set another plate.
Cheesy Sausage Gravy
Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 25 minutes | Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground breakfast sausage (mild or spicy)
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 cups whole milk, warmed
- 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- Biscuits or toast, for serving
Instructions
- Brown the sausage. Heat a large skillet or cast iron pan over medium-high heat. Add the ground sausage and cook, breaking it apart with a wooden spoon, until browned and cooked through, about 7–8 minutes. Do not drain the fat.
- Build the roux. Reduce heat to medium. Sprinkle the flour over the cooked sausage and stir to coat evenly. Cook for 1–2 minutes, stirring constantly, until the flour smells slightly nutty and no raw flour remains.
- Add the milk. Pour in the warm milk gradually, about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring continuously to prevent lumps. Continue adding milk and stirring until fully incorporated.
- Season and thicken. Add garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring frequently, until the gravy thickens to your desired consistency, about 5–7 minutes.
- Stir in the cheese. Remove from heat and fold in the shredded cheddar until fully melted and the gravy is smooth and glossy.
- Serve. Spoon generously over split biscuits or thick toast and serve immediately.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 420 | Protein: 21g | Fat: 31g | Carbs: 14g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 780mg