Feta & Tomato Biscuits

I'd taken a nice summer hiatus from blogging, but heading to the August Food Bloggers LA meeting kicked the habit back. I even went so far as to bake (!!!) a recipe I'd never tested. I threw all caution to the wind.

Go big or go home, right?

The theme for the August meeting (always a potluck gathering) was to use either tomatoes or zucchini, or both, since they are abundantly available. At first I was tempted to make a tomato jam. But then muffins became a more attractive option. And from muffins I went to biscuits.

Notice how zucchini was never a part of the discussion?

It's hot as hell everywhere in this country, even out here on the west coast, and yet I risked burning to a crisp to turn on the oven. Thankfully these only take 20 minutes. And I did it at 7 am when it's still under the Hades heat level.

And they were good. Half of them disappeared at the meeting and thankfully Dorothy from Shockingly Delicious took the rest home. No overly carby leftovers for me to munch on!

The original recipe is actually for muffins, but it's so easy to drop batter on parchment-lined baking sheets instead. Using Greek yogurt instead of the typical milk makes for a light, tangy biscuit. And these spread. You'll end up with little disks instead of actual biscuits, but hey, they still taste good.

One little mistake I made was thinking my dried mint was basil. Oops! So a little bit of mint ended up in the finished product. And cilantro, along with the basil. Great combo. But it was only a teeny pinch of mint. Though if I make these again, I probably would repeat this happy accident.

I'm going to try not to bake again until the heat index goes back to less hellish levels. But I might finally be getting the hang of it.

It's about time.

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Feta & Tomato Biscuits

by August-15-2012

Adapted from Savoury Tomato Muffins, the biscuits are a light breakfast snack 

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, deseeded, finely chopped, and drained
• 1/2 cup feta
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• pinch dried herbs, like mint!

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.2. Lightly fry the minced garlic (30 seconds), then drain. Mix with the chopped tomatoes and herbs.3. In a bowl, beat the eggs, salt, oil, and Greek yogurt together.3. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and cheese together, then add the egg mixture. Fold in the tomato mixture.4. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture on top of a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack for about 5 minutes before eating.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 30 mins Yield: about 15 biscuits

Sweet & Spicy Poblano Pepper Jam

Remember back when I was afraid of canning? Well I got over that fear right quick after the public jam. And I couldn't wait to try it with peppers!

Well, peppers and other fruits. Despite my cultural roots, there might actually be such thing as too many peppers. I didn't want to burn my tongue right off. So I seeded and chopped up a pound of jalapeños and poblanos, and then added pluots, figs, kumquats, basil and—because I wanted the jam to be a deep, dark red color—blueberries. It made a beautiful rainbow of flavors in the bowl.

I also didn't want a particularly sweet jam, so I held back on the sugar. The pectin I used was a "no sugar needed" variety. But because I've come to learn that sugar is both a preservative and responsible for color vibrancy, I did add 2 cups of it. Just to be on the safe side.

The experiment paid off. It looks like any sweet berry jam but with just enough heat. As one friend described it, "it's like a party in your mouth! You're expecting it to be sweet, but the spice hits you...then the sweet follows!" Which is exactly what I was aiming for. I swear.

My family can't get enough of this. They'll use it on toast, in fruit salad, as a meat topper, etc and so on. I like it as a snack, on top of pieces of truffle cheese or even queso fresco.

Sweet & Spicy Poblano Pepper Jam
yields 2 pint jars

1/2 pound poblano peppers (also called ancho chile peppers)
1/2 pound jalapeño peppers
5-6 medium figs
2 pluots
1 cup blueberries

1/2 cup kumquats

2 tablespoons basil chiffonade
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 packet of no-sugar-needed pectin

1. Remove the seeds from the peppers. Chop the peppers, figs, pluots, and kumquats into similar-sized pieces. (Note: use gloves when dealing with the peppers! I touched my lip hours after I'd made this—hours after I'd washed my hands several times over—and still managed to have burning lips for a while.)

2. Put the peppers and fruits into a large pot with the pectin over medium high heat and bring to a full boil. This should take 5-10 minutes. Stir to incorporate the pectin, and continue stirring occasionally to prevent scorching.

3. After reaching a full boil add the sugar and basil, stirring to incorporate. Boil hard for about a minute. Remove from heat.

4. Skim off the foam if it bothers you. Transfer the jam to sterile jars and proceed with water bath or vacuum sealing.

5. Refrigerate after opening.

Be sure to hide the jars from over-zealous relatives who will eat it all without sharing it with you. Or, to avoid this awkward situation, triple or quadruple the recipe.