biscuts, beef, and rice

The recipe that started this whole food blog was the result of a couple of accidents: Mr. Improv had taken me literally when I said, "Get all the tomato stuff the recipe calls for" and he bought only the diced tomatoes, neglecting the spaghetti sauce; and I forgot to stop by the store on my way home from work the day I planned to make ravioli, leaving me without the necessary pasta sauce.

Because I regularly forget at least one item on my grocery list, plus regularly forget to even write one of the key ingredients down on my list, plus get whimsical once I don an apron, I already knew quite a bit about making something called dinner out of random ingredients that don't seem to go together.

And so, Biscuits, Beef and Rice was born, along with this food adventure. Bon apetit!



For the filling:
1 cup Jasmine rice, boiled according to package directions
1/2 yellow onion, diced
7-8 cloves of garlic, diced
1 T oil
2 lbs. ground beef (or ground turkey)
1 can (16 oz) diced tomatoes without seasoning
2 T beef bouillion
1 t dried oregano

Using an iron skillet over medium heat, saute diced onion in 1 T oil until barely golden; add garlic and saute until golden, about 3 minutes.

Add beef and saute until browned, breaking the beef into small pieces with a wooden spoon.

Sprinkle beef bouillion and oregano over browned beef and stir.

Add tomotoes, reduce heat to low, and simmer until the biscuits are ready to add.

For biscuit topping:
Preheat oven to 350.

1 1/2 cups flour
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1 t sugar
1 t dried ground thyme
1 t dried oregano
1/4 t each salt and baking powder
1/4 cup cold butter, in pats
3/4 cup buttermilk or sour milk

Mix together dry ingredients.

Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly and there are no large pieces left.

Add buttermilk all at once, and mix until just combined.

Roll out dough to 1/2 inch thick, and cut into pieces using a biscuit cutter or wine glass (I'm not fancy enough to own a biscuit cutter)

Putting it together:
Layer rice, then beef into a greased 13x9. Place biscuits on top, and bake for 15-20 minutes or until biscuits are barely brown and cooked through.