Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits from Amaya La Jolla make a great go-with for your Super Bowl fare, or another dish, or just by themselves with butter. (Photo by Kelley Carlson)

Super Bowl Sunday is coming up fast, and bowls of chili, gumbo, and other warming fare will be on the menu of gatherings across the country. Here’s an idea for a go-with dish — a yummy biscuit I had the good fortune to sample at Amaya La Jolla recently. These Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits were part of Chef Camron Woods’ delicious roast suckling pig slider appetizers — but they’d also be great supporting players for the abovementioned chili, gumbo, soups, stews, etc.

Biscuits are enjoying a bit of a renaissance (did we all get tired of polenta?), and they’re fairly easy to put together. (Note that the recipe calls for at least 4 hours’ chill time, or overnight, so plan accordingly.)

Here’s the recipe from Amaya La Jolla, courtesy of Pastry Chef Michael Luna. Truth in advertising: I don’t have a kitchen scale, so I made these conversions (in parentheses) with the help of online sources.

CHEDDAR BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

1 pound, 4 ounces White Lilly flour (about 4 1/2 cups)

1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1/4 cup sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons salt

2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 tablespoon baking powder

4 ounces shortening

6 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1/4 ounce thyme (1 tablespoon)

15 ounces buttermilk

2 ounces butter, softened

In a large bowl, mix the first six dry ingredients together.

Cut the shortening into this dry mixture by hand, until about pea-sized. Put in freezer overnight or up to 4 hours.

Place the chilled flour mixture into the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the cheddar and thyme and pulse to incorporate. Add the buttermilk in a slow steady stream and mix until fully combined.

Let the dough rest for about 30 minutes, covered in the mixing bowl.

Generously flour the surface of the workstation and roll the dough out to about the size of a 9” x 13” pan.  Spread the butter over 2/3 of the left side of the dough and book-fold once, folding from the left side to the right, leaving enough room to tri-fold from the right side on top of the part that you just folded.

Turn the dough 90 degrees on the table. Proceed to roll out the dough to about 1/4-inch thickness and cut to desired size diameter of biscuits.

Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes and brush with butter when they come out of the oven golden brown.

(c) Laura Groch 2014