The picture shows the biscuit with some apple butter on it 'cause we ate all the compote before I thought to take a picture but I will give you Nick's recipe for the compote and what I use for the biscuits. I cannot put into words how happy I am that these biscuits are good. I have tried since I was about twelve to make a biscuit that was not akin to a hockey puck and this last week was my first success at it. Who says an old dog can't learn new tricks. Ha! I had Nick do the mixing on this day and boy was the dough sticky. It was raining and I have googled since then and discovered that humidity can make a difference. If you make the biscuits on a rainy day you will need to add more flour or use less buttermilk. I am not experienced enough to tell you the amounts but we just kept adding flour after we had turned it out onto the counter until we were able to get the cutter through the dough and it come out clean. Probably about 3 tablespoons if I had to make a guess were sprinkled on that pile of dough. It was hilarious!! But they still turned out good. Love that Virginia's Best!!
Buttermilk Biscuits
2 cups Virginia's Best biscuit flour (the wonder flour in my opinion) plus some for the counter
1 stick cold butter
1 cup cold buttermilk
Take the stick of butter and cut off about two tablespoons of it and melt it to brush on top of the biscuits before you put them in the oven. The rest needs to be cubed up (make sure you don't handle it too much while cubing, you don't want it to start melting on you). Add the cubed butter to the two cups of flour and using a pastry blender cut in the butter. If you don't have a pastry blender than use two butter knives passing them through the flour/butter mixture in a crisscross fashion until the butter is the size of peas in the flour. Make a well in the center and add half of the buttermilk. I used a long tine fork to mix the dough. Gradually add the rest of the buttermilk until you get it all incorporated. Turn the dough out onto a well floured counter. You could put down some waxed paper under the flour if you don't want to clean up the mess. Depending on how sticky your dough is you can sprinkle a little flour on top then turn the dough over lightly pressing about three times. Pat the dough to about an inch or inch and a half thick and cut straight down with your biscuit cutter or drinking glass. Just try to not twist because that will seal off the edges and they won't rise. Put them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper making sure they touch. That also aids in the rising. Cook in a 450 degree oven for 12-15 minutes. These biscuits are so tender and taste really yummy!
Nick's Apple Compote
2 gala apples peeled and cubed
the juice of one small lemon
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
While you are peeling and cubing the apples juice the lemon over them so they do not brown up on you. Put the butter in a small skillet or small sauce pan on medium high. Add the apple cubes (juice and all) and the brown sugar and cinnamon. Cook until the apples are at the consistency you like. Just keep stirring occasionally and checking by tasting.
I think it was the brown sugar that made it taste like pie. Can't wait to have that again!!!
Now that the snack is over it is time for dinner. This soup came about after a trip to Panera Bread one day for dinner. We were on an excursion to Blacksburg to our favorite store, The World Oasis, and Panera is our go-to restaurant down there. My darling husband/best friend, Nick and I all had the soup and loved it. I decided I wanted to try to do a remake on it and this is the recipe I ended up with.
Chicken Tortilla Soup
1 roasted poblano pepper skinned, seeded and chopped
2 roasted jalapeno peppers skinned, seeded and chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 onion chopped
2 teaspoons Mrs Dash Southwest Seasoning
1 can fire roasted tomatoes-salsa style
1 can black beans drained and rinsed
1 can mexi-corn
5 cups chicken broth
1 can of water (I rinse out the tomato and corn cans with this trick)
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts cooked and cubed
1 lime juiced and tortilla chips for garnish
Timeline: put the peppers on a foil covered cookie sheet, coat them with canola oil and put them under the broiler. They will take approx 5 minutes and you will need to turn them frequently to roast them on all sides. When they are charred to your liking put them in a bowl and cover the bowl with saran wrap. This will help them sweat which will make the removal of the skin easier. Right after putting the peppers in the oven you can get the chicken cooking. I pat the two breasts dry and then season them with salt, pepper and ceyenne pepper. Put about two tablespoons of oil in your oven safe pan on medium heat. Cook the chicken for five minutes on each side to create a nice crust. By the time that is done the peppers should be out of the oven so you can put the oven on 350 and put your chicken in to finish cooking. It takes about 15 minutes but just check it with your thermometer. Be safe!! Once the chicken is in the oven the hard part is over. Now you get a good sized pot and put enough oil in the bottom to cover and put the temperature to medium high. Chop up your onion and garlic and throw it in the pot with the Mrs. Dash seasoning. While this is cooking take your peppers out of the bowl and skin, seed and chop them. Remember, these are hot peppers so make it a fine chop. No big hunks please. Once you get the peppers in the pot the onions and garlic should be softened and you can add the tomatoes, black beans, mexi-corn and chicken broth. You want this to come to a gentle boil. When the chicken is done and cooled a bit you can cube it up and add it. I like to make this soup the day before because it just gets better with age. You want to add the lime juice right before serving. I make the tortilla chips out of corn tortillas. Cut the tortilla in half and then cut the halves into strips. Get your oil to about 350 and drop them in. We joke that when they stop talking they are done. If you make them you will know what we are talking about. They bubble up like crazy from the water content when you first put them in but as the water cooks out they get quiet. When they are slightly changed in color you will want to pull them out because they "carry over" cook just a little. Put some paper towels in the bowl you are going to put them in to take away some of the excess oil and don't forget to season them. I just use some light sea salt but you can use your favorite seasoning.
Now, I will admit, this is one spicy soup. There are several ways you can cut down on the heat factor. You can use the regular fire roasted tomatoes, salsa style means they added some peppers to the mix. And you can use a roasted green pepper instead of the pablano and just have the jalapeno heat. And you can not put the ceyenne pepper on the chicken when you cook it. But also remember, it is supposed to have some heat. If you take it all out you just have chicken vegetable soup...
This is my favorite soup. And I am happy to say, it is often requested and brings a smile to everyone's face. We were all happy and full and most importantly, satisfied. If you try it tell me how you like it.
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