Peach Cobbler

In Spring we eat strawberries like they're going out of style. In Summer, it's the same way with peaches. I usually buy my strawberries from the local Farmer's Market (Mount Vernon Farmers Market). There is one vendor I'll go to just for fruit, the Westmoreland Berry Farm. Best stuff you ever put in your mouth.

But in summer, I get peaches from the Egg Man. I don't know what farm he gets them from but they are so sweet and juicy. And the bagful I got this week were just begging me to make a cobbler out of them. And I had a new recipe I was just itchin' to try out. I found it in a magazine called Saveur. My mom had given me one of her old issues from last summer and while flipping through the pages, I found a recipe for peach cobbler. You can see it in the picture above, behind the cobbler I made.

The recipe had you make your own crust, something I haven't done in a very long time. But now that I had a food processor, I was up for the challenge. And after making the dough for the cobbler, may I just say that my food processor is schweet. Never again will I be afraid of making pie crust. The rest of the cobbler went together, the lattice top put into place and baked to perfection. We patiently waited for it to cool a while before we tried it. It was delish! And I'm quite pleased that it actually looked like the picture in the magazine.

Here's the recipe:
Peach Cobbler

Pastry (crust)
2-2/3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder
16 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces (I actually used only 12 tbsp.)
6 oz. cold cream cheese, cut into pieces
1 tbsp. cider vinegar
3 tbsp. cold water
2-3 tbsp. milk
2 tbsp. sugar

Filling
5 lbs. peaches, peeled, pitted and cut into 1" pieces
1 to 1-1/4 cups sugar
5 tbsp. cornstarch
1-1/2 tbsp. fresh lemon or lime juice
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into pieces

For the pastry: Put flour, salt, baking powder, butter and cream cheese into a food processor and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, about 6-10 pulses. Drizzle in vinegar and water and pulse until mixture begins to clump together (it won't form a ball), about 6-10 pulses. Transfer to a large zip lock bag and press dough together, then flatten out into a square as big as the bag, about 10". Refrigerate dough for 1 hour.

For the filling: Combine peaches, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, nutmeg and salt in a large bowl and set aside.

To assemble the cobbler: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut off 2/3 of the dough, roll out on a floured surface into a 14" X 18" rectangle and ease into a 9" X 13" baking dish. Brush rim of dough with milk, fill pastry with peaches and dot with butter. Roll remaining dough out into a 10" X 14" rectangle. Cut lengthwise into 12 strips and lay on top of the filling in a lattice pattern. Crimp and trim edges. Brush the strips with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake an additional 30-45 minutes until pastry is golden brown. Let cool briefly before serving.

Is it just me?.........

......or does Michael Chertoff, the head of Homeland Security, look like the love-child of Roger the alien from American Dad and Reverand Jim from Taxi?

Purple Cauliflower, Sea Bass, and Pizza

I know the heading for this post sounds strange but it is a compilation of foods from the past few weeks that we have cooked here at home.

It feels like ages since I've had the time or energy to put up a new food post. But I'm finally getting back into the swing of things again. What's been keeping me so busy? Let's see, work, sinus problems, work, an itchy dog, planning a vacation, helping Biscuit Boy photograph a friend's wedding and work.

Work had been incredibly busy and if one more person comes up to me and says how great it must be to work in a library because you get to ready all day, they will be shot on the spot. Well after I put down my Harlequin romance and box of Bon-Bons, of course. :)

Then there were the bloomin' ragweed which gave me a sinus infection and made Biscuit Pup itchy.

And two of our favorite people got married last weekend and our gift was to take their wedding photos. And may I just say that Biscuit Boy did an outstanding job.

Finally, to help see light at the end of the tunnel, Biscuit Boy and I are going on a 5 day cruise to the Pacific Northwest next month. I can't wait! It'll be my second cruise, his first. And as some of you know, cruises are known for their food. So there will be lots to report once we waddle back.

Now....on to the food portion of our program. Biscuit Boy fixed pizza tonight ....damn good pizza. We forgot to take pics of it before we dug in but still managed to get a picture of half of one. We get the raw dough from Trader Joe's and cook it on pizza stones in our oven. And Biscuit Boy has it down to a fine art. And I know my pizza......I was raised in New York until my teens and if it's one thing New Yorkers are passionate about it's pizza. The ones we fix here at home are right up there.

Tonight's pizza was topped with pepperoni and artichoke hearts.














Then there was the purple cauliflower. A friend of ours had a bicycle accident and injured her right elbow. And being right-handed found herself unable to do simple things, including fixing dinner. So we fixed it for her one night. I went shopping for the fixin's....steak, broccoli and potatoes. Well once I walked into the produce department and saw purple cauliflower, I said phooey to broccoli....I want to eat this instead. Here is a lovely shot of Biscuit and his purple cauliflower corsage.
After reading up on this strange new veggie, I learned that as long as you don't over cook it, the color will remain purple. Cook it too long and it turns green.

And can I say that not only does it make a stunning corsage, but a damn fine side dish as well. This veggie knows how to multi-task.

Finally we have our seabass. I picked up a Charlie Trotter Seafood Cookbook at our library's booksale. Incredible pictures of seafood that will make you drool. And seeing as we found a nice fresh seabass at the market, we decided to test drive the cookbook.
Our choice was a broth with soba noodles on which the tasty seabass was placed. A light, refreshing meal that Biscuit Boy said tasted even better the next day for lunch.

So that's been the excitement around here for the past few weeks. I think I need a nap.