Recipe from David Sloo. Total prep and cooking time is 25 minutes. Make the biscuits first, then prepare the gravy while the biscuits are in the oven. Biscuits: (1) Sift 2 cups flour, about 1/2 ts salt, and 2 ts double acting baking powder. (2) Cut in 4TB butter (between pea sized and cornmeal texture). For faster prep, use a food processor (blade attachment) to cut in the butter if you don't like doing it by hand. (3) Add a cup of milk (or more if necessary) and blend rapidly with a spatula, a big spoon, or your hand to make a soft dough. You can use cream for very rich biscuits, water for flaky, cracker-like biscuits, or a mix of milk and water. Soy milk makes odd, bitter, unpopular biscuits. (4) Pat the dough to a rectangle about as thick as your thumb, then cut into rectangles (or whatever shape you like) with a sharp knife. Bake on an ungreased baking sheet at 375 F until golden brown, about 10-15 minutes depending on the shape and spacing of the biscuits Meanwhile, the gravy: (5) Slice thickly 5-10 shiitake mushrooms. (6) Saute mushrooms in a little butter in a small pan. (7) Remove mushrooms from pan and put aside. In the same pan, make a roue with 2 TB butter and 2 TB white flour. (8) Add 1 1/2 to 2 cups of hot broth (chicken or vegetable) and put the mushrooms |