Beef Gravy over Mashed Potatoes

I have been craving beef gravy and mash potatoes lately.  Like the horrible absolutely amazing  kind they served for school lunch back in the day.  I think I caught a whiff of something walking by a diner one day and it's been stuck in my nose ever since.  My roommate was some how given a bunch of russet potatoes, so I had everything I needed to make this happen with no time to waste. 

I searched online for a couple recipes and decided to go with the one that would require me to make the gravy from scratch, so it was a white gravy.  It was good, but I think I wanted a brown gravy flavor.  Noted for the next round.  I got fancy with my potatoes and mixed up some creamy garlic mashed potatoes from the Food Network.  Absolutely delicious, although maybe too much garlic for this recipe.  I made enough for dinner for me and my roommate Sunday evening and lunch for the rest of the week.  It took some time, but it was really simple to make and I love not having PB & J's for lunch every day.   

Beef Gravy over Mashed Potatoes 

8 to 10 servings 

Mashed Potatoes

• 3 1/2 pounds russet potatoes 
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt 
• 16 fluid ounces (2 cups) half-and-half 
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed 
• 6 ounces grated Parmesan 

Beef Gravy

• 1.5 Pounds of Hamburger 
• 1 Medium Onion chopped
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 4 cups milk

1. Peel and dice potatoes, making sure all are relatively the same size.  Place in a large saucepan, add the salt, and cover with water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and then reduce heat to maintain a rolling boil. Cook until potatoes fall apart when poked with a fork.
2. While the potatoes are cooking, brown the hamburger and the onion in a large skillet until cooked.  Drain off the fat and set aside. 
3. Return the skillet to the heat and add the melted butter then the flour with the salt and pepper.  Once it starts to clump up, add the milk and stir until the gravy begins to thicken, about 10 to 15 minutes. 
4. Once the gravy thickens add the beef and onion back in to the skillet. 
5. When the potatoes have finished cooking, drain them and set aside.  In the pot heat the half and half with the garlic over medium heat until simmering, stirring frequently. 
6. Add the potatoes back the pot and mash them with the garlic and cream mixture. 
7. Pour the gravy over the mashed potatoes and serve. 

Enjoy! 

The Sweet Potato Love Continues

Before one of my first New York friends moved to Portland, She gave me her recipes to go through and I copied a lot of them.  Sweet Potato Ravioli with Lemon Sage Brown Butter was one I copied, so I have had it for a few years now and I guess I never made it because I thought it would take a long time or looked difficult.  Since Sweet potatoes are my new love, and this makes 8 servings I thought it would be another good recipe to make at home. 

It was a much bigger hit with the family than the Risotto, although my little sister still refused to try them since they had sweet potato.  They had much more flavor according to my mom and I would have to agree with her, but I still love the risotto.  We stuck to the recipe pretty closely except we didn't use fresh lemon juice and used dried sage. We may have also had too much sweet potato, or put too little in wrappers, but we ended up with about 40 raviolis. 


To make the 16 year old baby happy we made her some perogies with leftover Christmas mashed potatoes mixed shredded cheddar and the extra wanton wrappers without any butter sauce.  These were also really tasty and fast.  Just mix up the potatoes and the cheese and place them in the wrapper the same way as the ravioli and cook the same.  One can be less picky than my sister and add a sauce to it. 

Sweet Potato Ravioli withe Lemon-Sage Brown Butter

• 1  (1-pound) sweet potato (two potatoes)
• 2  tablespoons  grated fresh Parmesan cheese
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt, divided
• 1/4  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
• 1/8  teaspoon  ground nutmeg
• 24  wonton wrappers (we ended up using about 40)
• 1  large egg white, lightly beaten
• 6  quarts water
• Cooking spray
• 3  tablespoons  butter
• 1  tablespoon  chopped  sage
• 1  tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/8  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400°. 
2. Pierce potato several times with a fork; place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake at 400° for 40 minutes or until tender. Cool. Peel potato; mash. Combine potato, cheese, 1/4 teaspoon salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl. 
3. Working with 1 wonton wrapper at a time (cover remaining wrappers with a damp towel to keep them from drying), spoon 1 tablespoon potato mixture into center of each wrapper. Brush edges of dough with egg white; bring 2 opposite corners to center. Press edges together to seal, forming a triangle. Repeat procedure with remaining wonton wrappers, potato filling, and egg white. 
4. Bring 6 quarts water to a boil. Add 8 ravioli; cook 2 minutes or until done. Remove ravioli from pan with a slotted spoon. Lightly coat cooked wontons with cooking spray; keep warm. Repeat procedure with remaining ravioli. 
5. Melt butter in a small skillet over high heat. Add chopped sage to pan; cook 1 minute or until butter is lightly browned. Stir in remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, juice, and pepper. Drizzle butter mixture over ravioli. 

We had to wait a bit for my dad and brother to get home for dinner and so the ravioli stuck together even with all the cooking spray.  We ended up more of a casserole than individual raviolis.

Enjoy!