Green Tomato Cobbler with Buttermilk Cornmeal Biscuits is a delicious savory cobbler that goes with any meal. Tart green tomatoes form the base of this ultimate down home comfort food!
Gather up those green tomatoes from your gardens, people, this Green Tomato Cobbler with Buttermilk Cornmeal Biscuits is absolute heaven in a casserole dish! Last week I visited my Dad and his wife in the mountains of North Carolina, and, as always, I came home with lots of Southern food inspiration. I made sure to pick an armload of their green tomatoes before I left, and then carefully smuggled them home in my carry on…(if any of you guys work at LAX, just pretend you didn’t read that)…
This dish was inspired by my friend Tricia’s gorgeous Tomato Cobber. She made hers with regular tomatoes, which you could certainly do, but I love green tomatoes — they’re firm, and they have a piquant flavor that reminds me of tomatoes before they were bred to be so super sweet. Cooking softens them and brings out the juices and flavors. They’ll continue to ripen once picked, so plan to use them soon if you want to keep them firm and green. If you want to store your green tomatoes and gradually ripen them over time, wrap each one individually in newspaper and store them in the coldest part of your house (40-50F). The refrigerator is too cold for tomatoes. Check on them every few days and use them as they ripen. In the right conditions green tomatoes can last for months.
I chopped them, tossed them with some salt and peppered flour and fresh herbs, and piled them into my oval casserole. No need to fuss with fancy seasonings, green tomatoes are beloved for their unique flavor, and you want that to shine through.
I’ve honed my biscuit making skills over the years so I knew this recipe was going to be wonderful, the only question was what kind of biscuit dough to choose for the topping. I have a special fondness for corn and masa harina biscuits, I love pairing them with fall recipes, chili, especially. Buttermilk Corn Biscuit dough won out because it fits so well with the Southern feel of the green tomatoes. Perfection, if I do say so myself.
I used my cookie scoop to scoop the dough on top of the tomatoes. They puff up and turn golden as they bake, and you get a warm fluffy bite of biscuit in every forkful.
Green Tomato Cobbler with Buttermilk Cornmeal Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 pounds green tomatoes, chopped (or enough to generously cover the bottom of your casserole dish)
- salt and black pepper , to taste
- 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
- copious amounts of fresh thyme and oregano leaves
biscuit topping
- 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 6 Tbsp cold butter, cut in pieces
- 1/2 cup cold buttermilk
garnish
- fresh thyme sprigs
Instructions
- Set oven to 375°F.
- Toss the chopped tomatoes with the flour, herbs, and a generous amount of salt and pepper.
- Lay them out in a gratin style oval casserole. Mine is 8x10, measured from the top inside rims.
- To make the biscuits, put the dry ingredients (the flour, cornmeal, salt, baking soda, and baking powder) in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine.
- Pulse in the cold chopped butter, until the mixture is crumbly. I pulsed about 20 times.
- While pulsing, drizzle in the cold buttermilk. Stop the machine the minute you finish drizzling and the dough comes together, don't over mix it! I like to turn out the dough on my counter and finish blending it together gently with my hands.
- Use a 1 1/2 inch cookie scoop, or a tablespoon, to scoop out rounds of the dough and place them evenly over the tomatoes. I made 14 mounds of dough on mine.
- Bake for about 35 minutes, until the biscuits are golden and done through, and the tomatoes are bubbling. Serve right away with a sprinkle of fresh thyme.
Nutrition
notes:
- You can use regular tomatoes for this recipe, even cherry tomatoes.
- The fresh herbs really make this dish. If you don’t have thyme and oregano, think about basil, or dill.
- Don’t pile the tomatoes too thick into your casserole dish. If the layer is too thick the tomatoes won’t have time to cook down and soften before the biscuits are done. An oval gratin dish works well, mine is 8×10.
- I find that small ‘cobbles’ or scoops of biscuit dough work best, that way they get the chance to cook through completely. I used a 1 1/2 inch cookie scoop and I counted 14 mounds of dough.
- If you can time things correctly, this is really fabulous to bring to the table bubbling from the oven.
This sounds so delicious. Since I was just in GA a couple of weeks ago, would have been great to make then. No green tomatoes here right now, but I’ll be on the lookout for them to try this.