I had another load of cherry tomatoes starting to go bad on the vines again, and Tony pulled this recipe from his AARP magazine just in time. He prepared the tomato mixture (slightly modified) the night before and mixed the dry ingredients for the biscuit part in the morning.
After work, we blended the wet ingredients into the dry while the oven heated. Tony says his creation was impressive enough for me to do two-days’ blog posts and he’s going to make a double recipe next time.
Above are pictures of the process of making the biscuit batter. Below are pictures of the tomato filling cooking, and the completed dish.
Cherry Tomato Cobbler[1]
2 pints cherry tomatoes
2 crushed garlic cloves
1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
1 T avocado oil
Sea salt and pepper
3/4 C flour
3/4 C cornmeal
3/4 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
2 T cold butter
1 egg
1/2 C buttermilk
1/2 C grated Parmesan and sprigs fresh basil, for garnish
Preheat oven to 425. Halve the cherry tomatoes; put them in a medium oven-proof skillet (preferably not cast iron). Add the onion and garlic cloves. Drizzle the tomato mixture with some olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and toss.
Put the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and baking soda in a food processor. Add the butter cut into cubes and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse bread crumbs. Beat the egg in a small bowl. Add the beaten egg and buttermilk, and pulse until the mixture comes together in a thick, sticky batter. Spoon dollops of the biscuit batter across the top of the tomato mixture.
Bake 20-25 minutes until the biscuits are golden and tomatoes and onion are tender. Serve with Parmesan and basil leaves over the top.
[1] “Think Cobbler is Just for Dessert? You Haven’t Tried This Tomato Version,” by Mark Bittman, AARP The Magazine, August/September 2014.
