cobbler | Real Food on the Table

Just in case that last post had you reeling from ingredient and preparation overload, here’s a simple little number to balance it out. And yes, we’re sticking with the curry theme.

I’m an experimenter by nature. In the kitchen that means that I rarely do repeats. But this soup was so tasty that it will definitely be making regular appearances at the table.

On a separate note, this week was unofficially “peach week” at our house. One friend stopped by bearing a whole bag of delicious little peaches. The following morning, we awoke to another bag of peachiness left on our front doorstep by another friend. Well, when that many peaches just show up unsolicited, you really have no other option but to make cobbler. I wasn’t too happy with my first attempt – a pretty traditional recipe that got good reviews on Epicurious. Not to be defeated, or to sell the peaches short of their full potential, I tried again. This time with a Skillet Peach Cobbler. Winner, winner, cobbler dinner! The clan was unanimously very much in favor of my quest for cobbler perfection. After all, why wouldn’t they be? They got peach cobbler for dessert two nights in a row!

So first for the soup and then I’ll let you in on the cobbler.

The greatest thing about this soup is that I literally threw it together in 20 minutes. I started by chopping a whole onion.

I heated some oil and sauteed the onion, and then threw in some garlic and curry powder. I then added 3 medium zucchini and a russet potato along with 4 cups of water. I brought it all to a boil, then reduced the heat and let it simmer for about 15 minutes.

I left everything just sit on the stove at this point while the Hubs was off collecting children. When everyone was accounted for and whining for dinner, I brought the soup back to a simmer and then pureed it in the blender until it was smooth. I then added in a half a cup of half and half. Done! (BTW, the original recipe I was working from had no mention of half and half. But I looked at the soup and the soup looked back at me and we just both knew some half and half was needed. BUT . . . if you are looking to cut calories, fat or dairy, just skip that step and I won’t think any less of you.)

Oh, and please don’t judge me based on the ice cubes in my rosé wine – so gauche, I know. But the Hubs brought the bottle home after collecting kids and we didn’t have time for a proper chilling.

Now on to the cobbler . . .

I’ll spare you the explanation and let you imagine it through this photo collage. I think a big part of its deliciousness came from the fact that it was a skillet cobbler. I essentially melted a half a stick of butter in the skillet before adding the batter and then scattering the peaches over that. The peach preserves, blobbed about around the fresh peaches, also gave this dessert a great flavor. And if you’re going to go through the effort of making this little number, don’t skimp on the preserves. Bite the bullet and buy the good stuff. I personally love this St. Dalfour brand pictured in the collage.

I just need to point out the pudgy 4 year old hand stirring the batter. She was my sous-chef for “Peach Cobbler Take II”. Oh and I guess I should also add this photo for your entertainment. The peach peeling was slow going given that the ratio went something like this. One half for the bowl, one half for the Wee One. Good thing we had so many peaches!

Want the complete recipes? Here they are.

Curried Zucchini Soup, adapted from Martha’s Great Food Fast cookbook

Skillet Peach Cobbler, from Epicurious

One thing I failed to mention in Part I of It’s a Win-Win, is that I really wasn’t a blueberry fan prior to finding Temecula Berry Company. I always adored McCloskey’s book, Blueberries for Sal – a family favorite in our house, but the fruit itself didn’t hold much appeal for me. I would eat them occasionally in fruit salads and when they were served by others, but I never bought them. To me they were generally tasteless. Well let me tell you, eating directly off the bush is a whole different experience. They are just so flavorful – almost like a completely different fruit to me.

So if you haven’t ever gone blueberry picking, I really recommend it. Here’s a handy little site that can help you locate places to pick berries as well as various other fruits and veggies – http://pickyourown.org/

Our No Bake Blueberry Cheesecake wiped out about half of our take in the picking. That doesn’t account for all of the random munching – of which there was A LOT. So with the other half we just had to go for a classic cobbler.

We did one with a drop biscuit crust and so started off by whisking together some flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Then we mixed in butter with our fingers until little lumps formed. Finally, we mixed in sour cream being super careful not to over mix.

We sat the dough aside and got to work on the filling. Super simple, really. We just mixed the berries with sugar, a little flour, some lemon zest, and a bit lemon juice.

Once the filling was mixed, we spread it into the bottom of our dish, and then dropped the biscuit topping, by quarter-sized pieces, all over the top. Nothing fancy at all.

Doesn’t it kind of look like cauliflower?

The whole thing baked for about 50 minutes, until it was golden brown on top, and then we let it cool for about an hour. Of course, we had to eat it a la mode. I mean it would have been a total cobbler travesty to have eaten it any other way.