Sara'S Famous Sausage-Apple Gravy

• 3/4 tablespoon Unsalted Butter
• 3 tablespoons Shortening or Bacon Drippings (If you are really feeling Southern)
• 1 Medium Granny Smith Apple, cored and 1" diced
• 1/2 cup Diced Vidalia Onion
• 1 pound Ground Jimmy Dean Sage Sausage (Tennessee Pride is also a good option)
• 1/4 cup All-Purpose Flour
• 3 cups Whole Milk
• 1 teaspoon Cracked Black Pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• dash Ground Cayenne Pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon Hotlanta Hot Sauce (Award Winning Hot Sauce out of Atlanta)
• 1/2 tablespoon Chopped Fresh Sage for Garnish (optional)

1. Heat a 10-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat and melt Unsalted Butter.
2. Once Butter is melted add Diced Yellow Onion. Cook approximately 7 minutes until onion is transparent. In the same pan add apples and cook approximately 5 minutes until tender, but with a crisp bite. Remove, cover and keep warm.
3. Using same skillet, increase heat to medium-high and crumble in sausage (to get the best crumble use a mash potato masher). Cook until no longer pink, do not drain.
4. Add Shortening, All-Purpose Flour, Kosher Salt and Cracked Black Pepper. Cook, stirring constantly with a wire whisk until Flour begins to brown.
5. Slowly add milk, stir mixture continuously with the whisk so gravy does not get clumpy.
6. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for two minutes stirring continuously until gravy thickens. Stir in Diced Apples, Dash of Cayenne Pepper and Dash of Hotlanta Hot Sauce.
7. Garnish with chopped sage (optional)

butter, shortening, apple, vidalia onion, sausage, allpurpose flour, milk, pepper, kosher salt, ground cayenne pepper

Taken from food52.com/recipes/7484-sara-s-famous-sausage-apple-gravy (may not work)