Who You Calling Cheesy?

Despite the tragically long break in posts, your Sommeliers have been very busy in the kitchen over the last few months. Thanks to a particularly brutal winter, we’ve been busy perfecting our soups and getting a fair amount of use out of our slow-cooker. Since Winter shows no sign of letting up anytime soon, we’ll probably get a chance to remake some of our favorites and share them with you guys (you’re welcome, Mom).

Your Sommeliers both had Sunday off this week (thanks, Presidents Day), so Sunday dinner happened on Monday. The menu for this particular dinner was set last Friday when Mrs. Sommelier’s sister-in-law (or, Mrs. Eat as our loyal followers – Mom – know her) sent her a recipe containing a few magic words: sweet potato, chili, and – oh yes – Cheddar Biscuits.

I’ll go ahead and fill you in on the good stuff first: Cheddar Biscuits. Mrs. Eat sent along this recipe with a couple of tips: use fat free cheddar, sub in fat-free buttermilk for whole milk, and add scallions. Those sounded like good suggestions to us, so off we went.

First, we should say that neither of your Sommeliers are big “biscuit” people. We both grew up in the South and ate our fair share of them as kids…and young adults. Now we tend to go the healthier, whole wheat-y way of things. This recipe sounded so good, though, and – thanks to Mrs. Eats suggestions and our substitution of vegetable spread for butter – fairly easy on the diet. (We also skipped the butter spread at the end). Totally worth it! These things are scrumptious, and leave the entire kitchen smelling of cheesy goodness (which the cat appreciated too).

We added a couple more vegetables to the sweet potato and black bean chili recipe: one chopped red pepper added to the sautee and a strained can of corn added with the tomatoes. And, what can we say, the “chili” turned into more of a soup… a delicious soup though…If you try this recipe at home, try using less water or leave the lid off to simmer the stew.

We paired dinner with an elegant Volver Tempranillo. It’s a big juicy wine with just enough sweetness and a hint of spice to stand up to a spicy chili…I mean soup.

Till we post again, cheers!

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