Sunday, August 15, 2010

Savoring the end of summer


Hi everyone!
I know it's been a while since I've posted anything - I've got a backlog of travel posts a mile long. More on that to come. But in the meantime, I know I've written about peaches before, but I can't seem to get enough. We've been getting some small but super fragrant peaches in our CSA and I was supposed to be saving them for brandied peaches, which I've written about before. But earlier this week, they were sitting right next to the berries staring longingly at me, begging to be turned into a cobbler. Some of you out there have had this cobbler recipe in one form or another before. I just can't seem to stop making it, and it's been a tried and true recipe for a few years. You can throw just about any summer fruit into this recipe and it's super tasty. I've made it with just one type berry or a mix. You might need to play around with the sugar proportions a bit, depending on whether you're using sour or sweet fruit. But the basic recipe, with touches of fresh lemon zest, cornmeal, and buttermilk, still works well. Serve with ice cream or fresh whipped cream for a summer dessert you'll want on hand all year long.

PEACH-BLUEBERRY-RASPBERRY COBBLER

For the filling (make and cook filling first):

1/2 c. sugar
1 T. corn starch
a dash of cinnamon
a pinch of salt
6 c. of fruit (if you're using peaches, you'll want to slice into bite-size pieces and remove the skins)
1 1/2 t. minced lemon zest
1 T. fresh lemon juice

To make the filling:
Heat oven to 375 degrees with rack in the lower middle position. Mix dry ingredients of the filling. Then stir in fruit and lemon juice. Bake in a 9x9 baking dish for about 25 minutes.

For the biscuits (make while filling is baking):

1 c. flour
2 T. cornmeal
1/4 c. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
3 T. melted butter
1/3 c. buttermilk
1/2 t. vanilla

To make the biscuits:
Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix wet ingredients in a second bowl. Just before the filling comes out of the oven, fold wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Form dough into eight equal-sized portions.

For topping (make while filling is baking):
1/8 t. cinnamon
2 t. sugar

To make the topping:
Mix 2 tsp. sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.

For final assembly (after berries come out of oven):
Take berries out of the oven. Reset oven to 425 degrees. Put eight dough portions of dough on top of hot berries. Sprinkle each round with cinnamon sugar. Bake until biscuits are golden brown, about 15 minutes.