Recipe: Chive & Cheddar Biscuits

It seems like, since our first date, we’ve been talking about taking a food-centric road trip through the South… and we finally made it! A month or so ago, we ate our way into Savannah, then through Charleston and finally, on to Asheville. Of course, we didn’t see and consume everything we wanted to, but it was a pretty good start. 

There are many things that drew us to the south - chief among them, a restaurant in Charleston led by one of our favorite chefs, Sean Brock - but we were surprised by how much we loved the Low Country of South Carolina. We immediately connected with the lush and swampy landscape, the culture, and yes, the food! Biscuits! Smoked pork! Cheese! Grits! Butter, butter and more butter! We wished we could take it all home with us. 

When we arrived back in The Berkshires, our belts a little tighter, spring was barely emerging. Not much was happening in the garden beds except our trusty chives, which had sprung up high as if to welcome us home. Yearning for a taste of our travels, we set to work putting together a reminiscent dish, but with locally-sourced ingredients: Chive and Cheddar Biscuits, with North Plain Farm bacon and eggs. It might be a while until we make it back to the low country, but until then, this hearty breakfast will keep up sated. 

Chive & Cheddar Biscuits

+ 2 ¼ cups cake flour
+ 2 teaspoon sugar
+ 1 tablespoon baking powder
+ ¾ teaspoon salt
+ ¾ teaspoon baking soda
+ 9 tablespoons salted butter, cut into small chunks and frozen for a few minutes
+ 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
+ ⅓ cup chopped chives
+ ¾ cup buttermilk
+ egg wash (1 egg, whisked together with 1 tsp water)

1. Preheat oven to 400 °F and cover a baking sheet with a layer of parchment paper.
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Working quickly and gently, use your fingertips or a pastry blender to work the butter into the dry ingredients until the butter is broken into pea-sized pieces. When it’s done, it will resemble a very coarse meal. Add the shredded cheese and chives and stir until combined.
3. Add the buttermilk and stir until clumps form. Knead the mixture gently until it just holds together.
4. Dump the dough on to a floured surface and pat into a rectangle, about ¾ inch thick. At this point, you can either cut the rectangle into smaller 3 inch-ish segments or cut 2-3 inch rounds with a biscuit cutter. Either way, transfer to the baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches in between biscuits.
5. Lightly brush egg wash on top of biscuits and put into oven. Bake for 15 minutes, until biscuits are golden brown on top. Serve immediately.

Note: This recipe originally appeared on RuralIntelligence.com on May 11, 2015. It's been back-dated here on our blog so that it falls, seasonally, in the right place.

Recipe: Spinach Salad with Apples & Cheddar

Warmer weather is creeping in, but spring produce has yet to sprout. This leaves us with a pretty constant hankering for lighter fare. Enough with the roasts and braises, give us greens! ...That is, until the next time this crazy weather ricochets back to colder temperatures.

Recently, Silka has become obsessed with hearty spinach and apple salad. It's a classic combination - greens, apples, some cheese and a handful of nuts - and a perfect way to give a little lift to these late winter/early spring meals. We've probably made the salad 5 times in the last month, each time with a few improvements. First, we made the genius decision (if we do say so ourselves) to fry almonds, our nut of choice, in bacon fat. Next, thanks to the helpful people at Race Farms, we concluded that Fuji's were the best apple for the job. And finally we discovered THE cheese to bring it all together: the Cabot Clothbound Cheddar from The Cellars at Jasper Hill. We suggest you run out and get some...NOW!

Spinach Salad with Apples and Cheddar

Salad:

1 generous handful of raw almonds

1 tsp bacon fat (or a little butter, if you'd like to keep it vegetarian)

1 1/2 lbs spinach - we like regular, but baby would work fine as well

2/3 cup sharp cheddar cheese, cut or broken into chunks

1 medium apple, cored and thinly sliced - Fujis are great for this!

Dressing:

+ 1/2 cup olive oil

+ 1 tbsp soy sauce

+ 2 tbsp vinegar - we like apple cider vinegar

+ 2 tsp dijon mustard

+ 2 cloves of garlic, minced

1. Heat the bacon fat (or butter) in a small pan on medium heat. Once melted, add the almonds. Shake the pan to coat the almonds with the fat. Cook for 5 minutes, shaking the pan every minute or so.

2. While the almonds are cooking, assemble the rest of the ingredients in a bowl. Mix the dressing ingredients together and set aside.

3. When the almonds are done, spread them on a cutting board. Let them sit for a couple minutes then chop coarsely and add to the salad.

4. Toss with enough dressing to coat, and serve!

Serves 4 as a side or appetizer salad.