Tag: NYT

BOB….Biscuits on the Brain

BOB….Biscuits on the Brain

Maybe its because I have two kids in college in the south, or maybe its just because who in their right mind doesn’t like biscuits, it is my current obsession. When I was a kid, scratch biscuits came out of a can with a chubby dough boy on the outside, pop the can open, ta-da, biscuits in 15 minutes!

In searching for a biscuit recipe, I learned southern families make their biscuits in a wooden bowl. These bowls are handed down from grandmother to mother to daughter.  That struck a cord with me and I have been searching for a biscuit bowl of my own. A tall order here in California.  I thought about having one made but I would have to make a gazillion biscuits to justify the cost. Then, I came across a Peruvian wooden bowl at NapaStyle…shallow and wide, it fit the bill. Not an actual biscuit bowl but close enough! When I visit my kid in Nashville I may continue the search for a true dough bowl but for now this is it so its time to make some biscuits!

This first recipe comes from State Magazine in Tennessee.  From Tupelo Honey Cafe, not their signature AmAzing biscuit which I have had, but a nice tangy tender biscuit.  A key ingredient is White Lily Self Rising Flour, available in the South, it is a softer winter wheat flour, lower protein content (King Arthur Flour has a version), perfect for biscuits.

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Make sure your ingredients are cold! Mix in the butter with a pastry blender, until the butter particles are pea size.  Use a light touch, don’t overmix.

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I like this biscuit, but I wish the biscuit was taller, the search continues.

Tupelo Honey Cafe Biscuits

Ingredients

  • 2 cups White Lily Self-Rising Flour
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • cup chilled shortening cut into pieces
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • Melted butter

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 425˚ and position oven rack slightly below center of oven. Lightly butter a round cake pan or cast-iron skillet. In a large mixing bowl, whisk flour, sugar, and salt. Snap pieces of shortening with your fingers until they’re no larger than peas. Make a well in the mixture and pour in cream and ⅔ cup of buttermilk. Using your hands, sweep in the flour and turn dough until dry ingredients are moistened and dough resembles cottage cheese, adding just enough of remaining ⅓ cup buttermilk to reach this consistency. Sprinkle rolling surface with flour. Turn dough out onto the surface and sprinkle top with flour. With floured hands, fold dough in half and pat it into a ⅓- to ½-inch-thick round, using additional flour as needed. Flour again if necessary and fold dough in half a second time. If dough is still clumpy, repeat folding process for a third time. Pat dough into a 1-inch-thick round. Dip a 2-inch biscuit cutter into the flour and cut out biscuits, ensuring you don’t twist the cutter. Place biscuits in pan, sides slightly touching. Brush tops of biscuits with melted butter and bake for 15-20 minutes, until light golden brown, rotating pan 180 degrees after 6 minutes. Remove from oven and brush biscuits again with melted butter. Yields 10 biscuits.
Summertime, summertime..Watermelon Tomato Salad

Summertime, summertime..Watermelon Tomato Salad

One of the best things about summer, besides long lazy days and warm evenings for leisurely walks; is the abundance of fantastic produce.  Juicy sweet peaches, nectarines, sun ripened tomatoes, all sorts of melons and berries so sweet they taste like sugar. Farmer’s markets are literally bursting at the seams with crates filled and with summer’s bounty.  The other day I came home with heirloom tomatoes with one thing on my mind, a recipe from my weekly NYT Cooking newsletter, Tomato Watermelon Salad with Feta Cheese.    When the kids are home, a watermelon lasts a day at most, cut and consumed just like that. Poof, gone.  But with just two of us at home, a creative twist is needed to help us finish an entire melon.  This salad is the perfect answer.  Juicy chunks of watermelon, tomatoes, cucumbers, slivers of red onion, salty feta cheese, a basil and a balsamic dressing, hmmm,  a perfect summertime salad.  Enjoy!

**Don’t FREAK Out!**  The recipe does not have actual measurments!  Its pretty fast and loose.  Use a ratio of 1:1 watermelon to tomatoes.  4:1 for the watermelon to cucumbers (1/4 amount of cucumbers) and 8:1 for the red onion.  Really its to your taste and the amount you make depends on how many you are are serving.  The vinagrette is probably enough for a salad composed of half of a watermelon and 6-8 tomatoes. Crumble as much or as little feta as you like, it provides a nice tang and saltiness to the salad.  Variations:  Use mint instead of basil or a combination of the two.  Green onions instead of red onions or ricotta salata instead of feta.

Adapted from the New York Times

Summertime, summertime..Watermelon Tomato Salad

Course Salad
Cuisine American
Keyword watermelon

Ingredients

  • 1 seedless watermelon cut into 1 inch cubes
  • 4-6 ripe assortment of ripe tomatoes seeded and cut into 1 inch pieces
  • cucumbers peeled, seeded, cut into 1 inch pieces
  • red onion diced or thinly sliced
  • feta cheese of ricotta insalata crumbled
  • basil julienned

Dressing:

  • 2 tbsp Sherry vinegar or balsamic vinegar
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Combine watermelon, tomatoes, and cucumbers in a large bowl. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon kosher salt and mix. Let stand 5 minutes. Meanwhile make the dressing. Pour vinegar into a small bowl, whisk oil into vinegar into emulsion forms. Salt and pepper to taste.
  • Drain excess liquid from tomatoes and watermelon mixture. Add onions and julienned basil. Mix lightly. Crumble feta cheese on top of salad and drizzle with vinagrette. Serve.