Grain-free    &&    Very Low Fat    &&    Vegetarian

The summer weather is really getting into swing now, but I am lucky to live in Seattle where it almost never gets too hot to turn on the oven. Even if it got super hot, I am probably crazy about cooking and baking enough that I’d turn on the oven anyway.

This recipe is an adaptation of one found in Hetty McKinnon’s beautiful and amazing new book “Family.” I know I’ve said I love her before, but it’s worth saying again; check out all of her cookbooks if you can. Of course I changed this recipe to make it robot-compatible (grain-free and practically non-fat), and I amped up the spices a little bit. The recipe calls for a lot of tomatoes, and would be great for using up those soft wrinkly tomatoes in the back of the fridge that got just past their prime before you could eat them fresh. Or if you can, go to your local farmer’s market, look for someone selling tomatoes and ask them if they have any “seconds”; I get seconds of organic tomatoes at my farmer’s market fo $1/lb, and usually there’s barely anything wrong with them! To be honest, I cut back on the amount of tomato filling when I made this because I just didn’t have the tomatoes, and I thought it was fine.

The real star of the show here is the buttermilk biscuits! Because of the chickpea flour, they’re not quite as light and flakey as traditional buttermilk biscuits of course, but they’re still full of warm, soft, savory biscuity goodness, without the grain or fat!

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Tomato Cobbler with Buttermilk Chickpea Flour Biscuits

Adapted from Hetty McKinnon’s “Family” cookbook (p.163)

~45 minutes prep, 40 minutes to bake, 10 minutes to cool (total: 1 hour 35 minutes)

Serves 4 to 6

Bits:

Tomato Filling:

• 1 large red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 jalapeño, diced fine
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed with the flat side of a knife and diced fine
• 4 fresh thyme sprigs (or 2 tsp dried thyme)
• 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 3 Tbsp chickpea flour
• 4 lbs tomatoes (any variety), cut into about 1″ chunks
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• Hot sauce to taste (optional, if like me, you like everything to have a little kick)

Buttermilk Biscuits

• 120 g (about 1 cup) chickpea flour
• 110 g (3/4 cup) fine-ground corn meal
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• 100 g (about 1/2 cup) yam, roasted or boiled until flesh is fully softened
• 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast, plus extra for sprinkling
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Algorithm:

• Adjust oven racks so that one is in the center of your oven, and the other is any distance below that. Preheat the oven to 425ºF (220ºC).
• Make the tomato filling:
  • In a large non-stick frying pan over medium-low heat, add the red onion, and cook about until caramelized, 15 to 20 minutes; add a tablespoon or two of water if the onion starts to stick to the pan.
  • Add the jalapeño, garlic, thyme, and balsamic vinegar to the pan and immediately add the chickpea flour. Cook for one minute, while stirring continuously; don’t worry if the chickpea flour soaks up all the liquid and looks a little dry.
  • Add the tomatoes, salt, and pepper, and hot sauce if you’re using it. Give everything a few good stirs. The chickpea flour should dissolve into and thicken the liquids in the pan to make a nice sauce. Add water a tablespoon at a time if it’s still to thick, or turn up the heat and cook it down for a couple minutes if it looks too watery.
• Make the biscuits:
  • In a medium bowl, add the chickpea flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, paprika, and cumin in a bowl, and stir to combine.
  • Treat the yam just like you would butter; add it to the bowl, and using your fingertips, rub it into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
  • Stir in the nutritional yeast and chopped chives. Pour in the lemon juice and buttermilk; whisk with a fork until no the buttermilk is incorporated.
• Put it all together and bake:
  • Lightly grease the sides of an 9″ by 13″ baking dish with reduced fat butter or vegetable oil spray (this adds a negligible amount of fat to the dish).
  • Pour in the tomato mixture. Loosely form 12 balls of biscuit dough (or drop 12 large spoonfuls of biscuit dough) and place them evenly on top of the tomato mixture.
  • Place a baking sheet (or large bit of aluminum foil) on the bottom rack to catch any drips, and place the tomato cobbler on the top rack. Bake for 40 minutes; check halfway through and loosely place an aluminum foil hat over the baking dish if the biscuits start to get too dark.
  • Remove from the oven and dust lightly with extra nutritional yeast. Let rest 10 to 15 minutes. Serve while still warm. Pairs well with a fresh arugula salad.