ok hi from santa monica! i am here this week filming some videos with tastemade and generally worshipping huckleberry every moment i get. i've been wearing the half-bun and a nifty new pair of aviator sunglasses and i got a slight bit of tan, but so far no one has mistaken me for a local. i'm trying to figure it out. is it because i don't have a car and have been walking everywhere? am i acting and dressing like 76º is warmer than it actually is? or maybe it's my accent. syalad, syandwich, syanta monica.

that's ok! even if i was mistaken and someone asked me for directions, i would not know the answer. unless if it were to huckleberry.

i'm mostly really excited to cook with california produce. and i'm thinking i'll just hide out here until our garden back home comes up with cucumbers and tomatoes and fairytale eggplants (new this year!). which brings me to this recipe, because it's likely my last recipe of the season that will require you to really cook the daylights out of vegetables before eating them...

did i ever tell you about the green party that my parents threw me when i was three? i only vaguely remember it because i was three, it might have been at chuck e cheese, but everything was the color green except for probably the food because that was back when i only ate macaroni and cheese. if i had been eating green foods though, this savory cobbler would have been a good contender for the menu. all it is is five different green things swimming in a pool of gruyere and topped with buttermilk biscuits. you can get with that, right? it's very leek-centric and has a nice scoop of dry split peas, which is a new ingredient for me! i tried them because this year is the international year of pulses (have you taken the pulse pledge yet??) and have been pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to have these little green dudes on hand to throw into soups and stuff.

if you'd like to add in any more green veggies to this cobbler that you have on hand or sub out the spinach for another leaf or the leeks for another allium, go right ahead. this is a very forgiving cobbler!

big green cobbler

serves 6

ingredients

3 tb butter
3 leeks, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
Salt and pepper
1 bunch scallions, chopped, whites separated from the greens
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c flour
1 1/2 c vegetable or chicken broth
1/4 c heavy cream cream
2 packed cups spinach
1 c shredded gruyere
1/2 c dried split peas, cooked according to the package directions

Biscuits:

1 1/4 c all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 c whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
14 tb butter, cold and cubed
3 tb buttermilk
1 egg, beaten

clues

Preheat the oven to 425ºf.

In a large pot, melt the butter over medium high heat and add the leeks, zucchini, a pinch of salt, and a few turns of pepper and cook, stirring, until the leeks are soft and translucent, 7-10 minutes. Add the whites of the scallions and the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Stir in the flour and cook for another minute, and then add about half of the broth. Cook, stirring, until the broth has thickened, and then add the other half of the broth and then cook until thickened. Stir in the cream and spinach and cook until the spinach has wilted. Stir in the cheese, the peas, and all but a handful of the scallion greens and then reduce the heat to low. Let it simmer, stirring occasionally, while you make the biscuits.

To make the biscuits, whisk together the flours, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter and, using a food processor or pastry cutter or your hands, incorporate the butter until the mixture is the consistency of oatmeal. Fold in the remaining handful of scallion greens and then mix in the buttermilk until the mixture comes together to form a dough. Turn it out onto a floured work surface, pat it out to 1/2” thick and then cut out round biscuits, re-rolling scraps as needed.

Pour the green mixture into an oven-safe vessel such as a casserole dish or cast iron pan or dutch oven and then top it with the biscuits. Brush the biscuits with the beaten egg and top with black pepper. Bake until the biscuits are golden brown, begin checking for doneness at 25 minutes. Enjoy!