This Foodie Friday recipe uses ingredients that are ripe and fresh from the garden right now.

Southwest Style Corn Salsa on Cornmeal Biscuits (prep. time about 1 hour. Makes about 18)

Biscuits:

1 ½ C. all purpose flour

½ C. corn meal

1 T. baking powder

A pinch of salt

½ stick cold, unsalted butter, cut into cubes

¾ C. milk

Salsa:

½ small red onion, finely diced

1 banana pepper (mild) or any pepper with your desired heat factor, finely diced

1 8.75 oz. can whole kernel corn, drained

½ avocado, diced

1 T. chili powder

1 tsp. garlic powder

½ tsp. mustard powder

½ tsp. red pepper flakes

A pinch each of salt and black pepper

Tabasco Sauce to taste

1 T. olive oil

4 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

(sour cream and squeeze of lime, optional)

Preheat oven to 375. In a sauce pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat and sauté the onion and pepper until tender.  Stir in corn and spices and continue to cook until the corn is heated through. Remove from heat to cool while the biscuit dough is prepared.

In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, corn meal, salt and baking powder. Cut cold butter into the dry mixture until it resembles coarse sand (easiest to do this with your fingers). Make a well in the center of the mixture and add milk, stirring into the flour until it starts to form a ball. Gently continue to mix with your hands, but do not over-work or you will have tough biscuits.  Turn onto plastic wrap, cover and allow to rest a few minutes.

While the dough is resting, stir the diced avocado into the corn mixture and mash with a fork to break the corn kernels up a bit. The avocado acts as a binding agent. Splash in Tabasco Sauce if you like.

Back to the biscuit dough. On a floured board, roll the dough to about ½ inch thick. Cut into rounds with a smaller size biscuit cutter. (I actually rinsed out the corn can and used the cut rim)  Place biscuits on a parchment paper lined baking sheet or lightly dust the sheet with corn meal. Top each biscuit with the corn mixture and top that with a pile of the shredded cheese.

Bake about 25 minutes until the biscuits are brown and the cheese melted.

Can be served with a squeeze of lime and a dollop of sour cream. Enjoy them hot, cold or room temperature.  They can be re-heated easily in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Try versions with crab, chicken, black beans or a combination. Be creative!

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