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Vegan Cat Head Biscuits with Spinach and Mushroom Gravy (and no Cats)

Cat heads biscuits are big (cat-head-sized, if you’re into hyperbole). Beloved in the south, they’re tall, fluffy, and alas, traditionally made with lard. This vegan version may upset southern traditionalists, but their slight but pleasing tang and light texture honors the original without pork fat or harm to pig. No traditional milk-and-pork-fat gravy.
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Ingredients
  

For the biscuits:

  • 1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk
  • 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
  • 1-3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus additional for shaping biscuits
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 4-1/2 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
  • pinch sea salt
  • 6 tablespoons) vegan butter or margarine chilled
  • 1 tablespoon vegan butter or margarine melted (optional)

For the spinach and mushroom gravy:

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic chopped
  • 2 scallions green tops and thick white stems, chopped
  • 8 ounces mushrooms chopped
  • 4 ounces spinach leaves
  • 1 handful sorrel leaves if you can get them or 1 lemon, zested
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
  • 1/4 cup plain unsweetened soy milk
  • sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Instructions
 

For the biscuits:

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together soy milk and cider vinegar to make vegan buttermilk (mixture will clabber — it’s supposed to). Set aside.
  • In a food processor, sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Pulse a time or two to combine.
  • Pulse in the chilled vegan margarine and mix quickly, just until mixture becomes like coarse meal. Pour in vegan buttermilk and give a quick mix to form a damp dough.
  • Dust rolling surface generously with more flour. Turn out the biscuit dough. Knead oh-so-briefly, working in flour — a tablespoon or two at a time — just until dough loses its stickiness. Pat or roll out dough to 1/2-inch thick. Flour the rim of a glass or use a floured 2-inch or 3-inch biscuit cutter to form biscuits.
  • Place biscuits on the rimmed baking sheet. Brush tops with melted vegan butter, if desired.
  • Bake for 15 minutes. Biscuit should be lightly golden, pillowy and fragrant. Best served at once, with a generous ladleful of gravy.

For the spinach and mushroom gravy:

  • Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add chopped garlic, scallions and mushrooms. Saute, giving the vegetables an occasional stir, for about 4 to 5 minutes, or until they’re softened.
  • Cover and reduce heat to low, cooking another 10 minutes or until mushrooms have darkened and produced a nice amount of broth.
  • Add spinach leaves by the handful, the sorrel if you can get it, or the lemon zest if you can’t. Stir just until the greens go limp, another minute or two.
  • Pour everything into a blender or food processor, scraping up any mushroom bits that stick to the bottom of the pan. Add soy milk and nutritional yeast. Give a quick puree until sauce thickens and becomes smooth and green. Season with sea salt and pepper. Spoon over biscuits or pair with any fresh vegetable.

Notes

For the biscuits:— Use a light hand with the dough. Even better, use a food processor. The whole batch comes together in minutes.— Chilled vegan butter. It keeps the dough cool so the fat melts into the biscuit dough only during baking.— Many southern cooks swear by White Lily flour, a soft wheat flour. I’ve adjusted by adding corn starch to unbleached all-purpose flour for lighter biscuits. — Biscuits always taste best fresh out of the oven.