Tomato and Corn Biscuit Pie

I saw a recipe for tomato and corn pie last summer on Smitten Kitchen and just had to make it. Considering how much I liked it, I'm surprised I didn't post it on here sooner. I have made only a couple very minor adjustments, the two important ones being using my own biscuit recipe for the crust (2/3 of the Yogurt Biscuit recipe) and using drained homemade yogurt in place of mayo and lemon juice.

Tomato and Corn Pie
serves 8

Crust
3 oz pastry flour
6 oz ap flour (or 3 oz ap, 3 oz whole wheat)
(that's about 2 cups flour total)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter
3/4 to 1 cup (~6 ounces) plain yogurt

Filling
1-3/4 lb tomatoes (2 large or 3 medium), blanched and peeled
1-1/2 cups corn (from 3 ears), coarsely chopped by hand
1/4 cup basil leaves
1/8 cup chives
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, divided
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
6-7 oz (1-1/2 to 1-3/4 cup) cheddar, grated
about 1 cup yogurt to drain (alternately, 1/3 cup mayonnaise + 2 tablespoons lemon juice or scant 1/2 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt)

1. Preheat oven to 400°F

2. Place two layers of paper towel in a colander and set the colander over a bowl. Scoop in about 1 cup yogurt to drain

3. In a large mixing bowl, mix flours, baking powder, baking soda, and the salt for the crust

4. Grate in the butter

5. Add the yogurt and mix gently until all ingredients are in a ball

6. Split the ball of dough in two and roll out on a well-floured sheet of wax paper

7. Place bottom crust into a pie tin

8. Slice tomato into rounds, and gently deseed; roughly chop the corn (if you haven't already); finely chop the chives and basil; grate the cheese

9. Layer into the pie crust half each of the tomato slices, corn, cheese, herbs and spices (salt and pepper); then layer in the second half

10. Top with a scant 1/2 cup drained yogurt

11. Top with the second rolled out crust, seal and flute the edges, then cut air vents in the top (as with any other pie)

12. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly

Shortcake Biscuits

Among other sweets to use up all the strawberries I mentioned in my last post, Chrissy is quite the fan of strawberry shortcake. Personally, when I think of strawberry shortcake, I'm thinking of a sponge cake–you know, something that actually involves cake. However, Chris and his family, for whom I'm making the shortcake, are more partial to the type of "shortcake" that's a cross between a biscuit and a scone. Mind you, I find these delicious and I certainly don't mind the shortcake biscuits being the vehicle for my strawberry and whipped cream consumption, I just think that a more cake-like substance is better. Nonetheless, here is a recipe for shortcake biscuits.

Shortcake Biscuits
makes about 12
adapted from Joy of Cooking

Ingredients
2 cups ap flour
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1-1/4 cups cream

1. Preheat oven to 450°F

2. Mix dry ingredients together.

3. Add cream all at once and stir briefly. Then very gently knead the dough until all the flour is incorporated.

4. Roll out on a lightly flour surface until dough is a scant 3/4 inch thick and cut into 3 inch diameter circles. Re-roll extra dough and cut out more circles until all the dough is used.

5. Bake on an ungreased baking sheet for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

6. Serve with strawberries that have been cut and macerated in sugar, and some whipped cream.

Yogurt Biscuits

Before Chris and I left for a week, I naturally wanted to do something with our short-term perishables, namely our milk. Fortunately, there was a beautiful application that I like doing anyway: yogurt. Homemade yogurt is a bit thinner than store bought as it doesn't have such things as pectin or cornstarch. As such it is much better for baking with. I use my homemade yogurt in my naan and some curries (though that's not baking). I also use it occasionally when feeding my sourdough starter or directly in my bread.

So now that we're back and neither of us has had a chance to go to the store (Chris being quite busy with work and me being sick), we're finding out pretty much everything we can do with what's on hand. The past couple of mornings, we've had some waffles that we froze before we left, and this morning I found a really good recipe for yogurt biscuits.

Yogurt Biscuits
adapted from Mark Bittman via Culinate Kitchen Collection
makes at least 15

5 oz pastry flour
4 oz whole wheat flour
4 oz ap flour
(that's about 3 cups flour total, adjust individual amounts according to preference)
1-1/4 teaspoons kosher salt (3/4 tsp table salt)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
8 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter
1-1/4 to 1-1/2 cups (~10 ounces) plain yogurt


1. Preheat the oven to 450°

2. Mix together the dry ingredients

3. Either cut or grate the butter into the dry ingredients

4. Stir the yogurt into the dry ingredients, until the dough just comes together. If you still have some dry at the bottom, use an additional spoonful of yogurt

5. Using your hands, press all the dough together into a shaggy ball, and turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface

6. Knead gently until the dough holds together; keep in mind that it will probably still be a bit sticky

7. Press dough into a ¾-inch-thick rectangle and cut into biscuits with a round glass or biscuit cutter dipped into flour

8. Place the biscuits onto an ungreased baking sheet

9. Reshape the leftover dough, being careful not to overwork it, and cut out more biscuits

10. If you don't have a double bottom baking sheet, place the baking sheet on top of an identical baking sheet as a double pan lowers the chance of overbaking the bottoms of the biscuits and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the biscuits are golden-brown. These biscuits are best served warm.