Lately, in this In Season series, we're taking a look at what I take home from Crooked Sky Farms each week and see what I've done with my CSA share, or part share. This week I'm using sweet potatoes, carrots, and onions.
Usually, when I'm in a rush and have neglected to plan for dinner, scrambled eggs and toast usually satisfies -- very happily in fact. This time, I wanted to make some scrambled tofu to go with the homemade sweet potato biscuits inspired by a sweet potato scone that I saw on Chow Locally's Facebook page. Without looking for a special sweet potato recipe, I decided to just add the cooked sweet orange flesh to a handy cream biscuit recipe and crossed my fingers. I'm happy to report that it turned out great. While the biscuit turned a peach shade it tasted just the same as my last several batches of cream biscuits -- without the sweet potato addition. So no flavor difference -- it's just too subtle to notice. However, you'll know that you've added something special to the biscuits but haven't fussed with it enough to irk your family members who don't like surprise additions to their favorite foods.
Here's how I made them: Sweet Potato Cream Biscuits with Cinnamon Honey Butter adapted from Smitten Kitchen's recipe for cream biscuits (love her) which she adapted from James Beard's American Cookery
2 cups cooked and cooled sweet potato flesh (I poked them with a fork and nuked 2 largeish sweet potatoes for about 5 minutes) 3 tablespoons melted butter 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the surface 1 cup whole wheat flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
Crank your oven to 425 degrees to preheat while you stir up and cut out the dough. Line a cookie sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. Microwave the butter in a small bowl, like your morning cereal bowl, and put it somewhere out of the way to cool down. Put all the dry ingrdients into a medium bowl and combine and sift with a whisk or fork. Stir the cooled sweet potato flesh into the cream to combine - you could put it in the blender to incorporate fully but it's absolutely not necessary and even looks better with little chunks of sweet potato dotting the biscuits. Pour the cream mixture into the dry mixture and stir to just combine. Lightly flour the surface you're going to roll and cut out the biscuits (preferably one that can be easy cleaned up like a larger cutting board). Get out a juice glass or your biscuit cutter and roll out the dough to about 1" in height (I tend to roll too thin so I'm rounding up for you in case you're like me). Cut out the biscuits and arrange on the cookie sheet about 1" apart. Continue to press together and roll out the scrap dough unitl you've cut out all the biscuits. Brush generously with the melted butter and bake for about 12-15 minutes until it's pretty and golden but not brown since that means they might taste too dry.
Slather with your preferred butter-type food. I made cinnamon honey butter. It's easy to do. Just let a stick of butter come to room temp. If you never remember to do that like me, watch it like a hawk and nuke it for about 10 - 20 seconds on high to soften - more if you need to but don't let it melt. Stir in not quite a ¼ cup of honey, not quite a teaspoon of cinnamon and a pinch of salt if your butter is unsalted. If not, you're cool. Serve at room temp so that it melts easily drips over the fluffy surface of the fresh warm biscuits.
I served these biscuits with the first scrambled tofu recipe I ever tried and I haven't tried another because I like it so much. It's Isa Chandra Moskowitz's recipe and you can find it here on her blog Post Punk Kitchen: http://www.theppk.com/2009/10/tof-u-and-tof-me-scrambled-tofu-revisited/. This is where you'll use your carrots and onions, or whatever vegetable you have hanging around, they'll work great here.
