Savory Green Tomato Cobbler

It’s summer, and summer means tomatoes.

Or at least it does in this house. Whether we’re making tomato pie or salsa fresca or gazpacho or a simple tomato sandwich, we love tomatoes. Or most of us do. The younger sprog isn’t a fan, but don’t worry, we’ll convert her! I also love me some green tomatoes.

In our last two harvest boxes from Conundrum Farms, we’ve gotten some beautiful green tomatoes. After making some delicious fried green tomatoes with Creole remoulade, I wanted to so something different. But what? I didn’t really want to make pickles or chutney. I’ve been making some quick pickles, and the fridge is full. (More on that later.) I thought about making a green tomato pie, but I didn’t want to make a pie crust. Why not a savory cobbler? Behold, the green tomato cobbler with biscuit topping!

(Okay, in the interest of full disclosure, I don’t make pie crust; my husband does. And he made the biscuit topping because he enjoys making biscuits, and I don’t! Regardless, the cobbler was delicious, and we all agree that it needs to become part of our summer meal planning. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!)

Savory Green Tomato Cobber with Cheesy Biscuit Topping

Ingredients

For the tomatoes

2 to 3 pounds of green or greenish tomatoes, or enough to cover the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish, cored and cut into chunks
1 small yellow onion, peeled, cut in half and thinly sliced
2 to 3 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
1 stem fresh thyme leaves removed from the stem
10ish fresh basil leaves, torn into pieces
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

For the crust

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ to 1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper (5 grinds? 7?)
1 stem fresh thyme leaves removed from the stems
6 teaspoons VERY cold butter, cut into small pieces
4 ounces sharp white cheddar, grated
1 scant cup VERY cold buttermilk

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375°.

Combine the tomatoes, onion, garlic, thyme, basil, salt, pepper, and the 2 tablespoons of flour to combine. Place the mixture in a casserole dish.

To make the biscuit topping, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pepper, and thyme in a bowl. To cut the butter into the flour, you can use a pastry cutter, a fork, two knives, or your fingers (if they aren’t too hot). David uses a pastry cutter, while I use a fork. Whatever you do, you want the flour and butter mixture to be crumbly, with the pieces of butter no larger than a lentil. Toss in the cheese.

Stir in the buttermilk until the dough just comes together. You don’t want to overwork your biscuits, but you don’t want to bite into a large pocket of flour, either. Once the buttermilk is incorporated into the dough, use a large spoon to drop rounded spoonfuls onto the tomato mixture in the casserole dish. You want to cover the top of the casserole but not cram it full because the biscuits will spread. We had some extra dough left over, so we just baked off some biscuits on a parchment-lined baking sheet for about 15 to 20 minutes in the previously preheated oven while the cobbler was cooking. They kept the starving rabid wolverines, aka my children, alive while the cobbler was cooking.

Cook for about 40 to 50 minutes in the aforementioned preheated oven or until the biscuits are golden brown and cooked through, and the tomato mixture is bubbly and fragrant. Remove from the oven and wait for about 10 to 15 minutes before serving. My family ate the whole thing, but I think for normal humans, it will serve about 6.