Southwestern Vegetarian Casserole

Despite growing up in a part of the US where Midwestern convenience meets Southern decadence, I’ve never been crazy about casseroles. One casserole I always pull off is a tamale pie — a flavorful Southwestern filling filled with fluffy masa.

Recently I’ve been craving this hearty dish but ran out of masa. I spotted a bag of buttermilk in my fridge and figured why not top with biscuits instead?

It’s great for a family dinner on the weekend or on a weekday with a little wiggle room. This recipe makes six servings, but you can stretch it to eight servings with a side or two. I would recommend a citrus coleslaw or a nopalitos cactus salad.

How to Make Southwestern Vegetarian Casserole

This recipe has two components: the filling and the biscuits. Each is prepared separately and then assembled in a casserole dish.

• For the filling, a rainbow of chopped veggies, beans, and spices are cooked on the stovetop, then poured into a casserole dish.
• The drop biscuit dough is made in a large bowl, portioned and carefully placed on top of the filling. There is no need to roll out and cut the cookie dough.
• The cookies are topped with shredded cheddar cheese both in the batter and on top.
• The whole thing goes into the oven and bakes for about 20 minutes, just long enough to clean up the kitchen and set the table.

Tips for biscuit success

While some cookie casseroles use rolled and sliced ​​cookies, I chose drip cookies for a couple of reasons. They’re quick, easy, and less messy. They also spread and puff up nicely during baking, covering the filling and allowing you to portion and serve the casserole however you like.

Most importantly, they’re fluffy rather than flaky like most cut cookies. The tops will be crispy and the moisture in the filling will keep the cookies tender. While flaky cookies are awesome, cooking on a moist filling isn’t the best way to encourage flaky layers.

The key to fluffy drop cookies is treating the dough with a light touch. The more the dough is mixed, the tougher it will become. After adding the buttermilk, mix just until all of the large dry pockets of flour are gone, then stop mixing.

Divide the dough into portions and dust with a little flour before placing in the casserole dish. This should be done gently and without overworking the dough.

Customizing the Southwestern Vegetarian Casserole

You can swap out ingredients to your heart’s content. I’ve provided measurements of the veggies for easy swapping – just make sure you always include onion, pepper, garlic and well-drained canned tomatoes.

When making substitutes, remember to use ingredients that cook in a similar way with similar water content and cooking time.

• Make it whole grain: Replace all or half of the all-purpose flour in the cookies with whole-wheat white flour.
• Make it sharp: Leave the seeds in the jalapeño and double if you like. You can even add diced jalapeños to the cookie dough.
• Swap pumpkin: Substitute chopped cauliflower or boiled, diced sweet potatoes. Add them with the beans and 1/4 cup broth or water since squash contains more water.
• Swap mushrooms: Try diced eggplant instead, or substitute chopped fresh tomatoes for more acidity.
• Make it meaty: Swap the mushrooms and half the beans for cooked and drained ground beef, turkey, or chicken.
• Swap kale: Any chopped leafy greens will work, like spinach, Swiss chard, or kale.
• All Tomato: Swap out the salsa for a pureed tomato salsa or tomato sauce.

How to store and warm up

I figured this recipe wouldn’t hold up well since drip cookies tend to be lackluster when chilled. But it has something to do with baking them on top of the moist filling that gives them longevity.

To store: Cover leftovers tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to three days.

To warm up: I highly recommend reheating it in the oven to give the cookies a second life. Microwave makes them a bit chewy.

Take the dish out of the fridge to warm it up a bit while the oven preheats for about 15 minutes. Cover the mold with foil and heat in a 400°F oven for 15 minutes until bubbly. Remove the foil and bake an additional 10 minutes to crisp up the cookies again.

If you don’t plan on eating all of the leftovers, I recommend putting your portion in a smaller ovenproof bowl so you don’t have to repeatedly reheat it.

If you like Southwest flavors

• Butternut squash and black bean skillet dinner
• Southwest Fried Chicken with Beans and Corn
• Mexican quinoa salad with black beans, corn and tomatoes
• Tex Mex Shepherd’s Pie
• Three sisters casserole with cornbread topping