Crescent Dragonwagon shares a wealth of recipes and memories with humor and intelligence in her extraordinary Passionate Vegetarian. She promises that "here you will be well fed, well loved, well tended to, satisfied," and 1,000-plus recipes later, that's exactly what's delivered.For 18 years Dragonwagon owned and ran a country inn, where she fed glorious food to everyone including vegetarians
2 cup unbleached white all-purpose white flour (plus a bit to flour the rolling surface)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon chilled butter
1 tablespoon mild vegetable oil, such as corn, canola or peanut
3/4 to 1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 to 2 tablespoons pesto
Cooking Spray
Preheat the oven to 425 F, and make sure it’s up to temperature.
Sift the flour, backing powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl. Cut the butter into chunks and scatter over the flour mixture. Add the Parmesan cheese. Drizzle in the oil and quickly cut the fats and cheese into the flour with two knives or a pastry cutter.
Add 3/4 cup of the buttermilk and the pesto and stir just until the mixture forms a ball (if too crumbly, add just a bit more buttermilk), and turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead 4 or 5 times – just enough to firm up the dough. Do not over-knead! The secret of a biscuit, even a reduced-fat one, is to handle it gently, tenderly…lovingly.
With floured hands, oat the dough into a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. The top will be sticky. Then, either use a sharp knife to cut straight down through the dough to form squares, or punch straight down through the dough with a biscuit cutter, without twisting. I usually use a knife – less handling, no wastage, no temptation to reroll and reroll the scraps, on into tough-biscuit eternity. Place the biscuits on a nonstick baking sheet or one that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake immediately for 10 to 12 minutes, until light golden.
