Southern Breakfast Poutine

Poutine is a French Canadian dish that features French fries topped with cheese curds and covered with a dark gravy. Recovering from my back surgery, I have been eating out more lately and that means more leftovers. What can you do with leftover French fries? Why not cut them up and use them for hash browns? Why stop there, lets make a southern version of poutine. First let us make a great sausage gravy to add to our cheese curds topping our "French fry" hash browns.

 Ingredients:

 2 pounds good quality pork sausage
 1 large sweet onion finely diced
 1 cup all purpose flour
 1 tsp. dried thyme or 4 sprigs fresh thyme
 1 pinch red pepper flakes
 Hot sauce to taste
 2 cups whole milk
 Salt and pepper to taste
 fresh cheese curds
 leftover French fries
 Salt and pepper to taste

 Instructions:

 Heat a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. When the pan is hot, skin and break up the sausage into small pieces, season with salt and cook until brown and most of the fat has rendered out into the pan. Add the onions and cook until they become translucent. Add the thyme and red pepper flakes and continue to cook until the onions just start to brown. Whisk in the flour and stir until fully mixed. This is in fact a roux. I need to continue to stir until the raw flour taste is gone which should take a minute. Continue to whisk and slowly add the milk. I now will increase the heat to medium high, stirring frequently, then when the mixture begins to boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer until the mixture thickens. Now is the time to season with salt and pepper to taste, and to add the hot sauce to achieve the heat you want. Keep warm until needed.

 Dice the leftover fries into small squares and add to a preheated cast iron skillet on medium heat. Fry until crisp and plate. Sprinkle with cheese curds and cover with warm gravy. Serve immediately and enjoy with your favorite eggs.

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