They tell me it's the first day of summer but I will have to take their word for it. Here on the prairies of Saskatchewan, I'm still waiting for spring. Magazines, newspapers and cooking shows are chock full of recipes for the grill so you don't have to heat up your kitchen during the summer months but our grill is water logged and I am huddled indoors in a sweatshirt and bunny slippers so I can't wait to crank up the oven for some ambient heat. They also tell me this is unusually cool weather but they said the same thing this past winter when the mercury refused to budge above 50 below. For a chick used to Atlanta temperatures it's discouraging to spend each morning in front of my closet gazing longingly at shorts, tanks tops and cute little sundresses.
As a result, when I went grocery shopping this weekend, I got fruit envy. Nothing says summer like ripe juicy fruit - the vibrant colors and scents are like a siren song to me even if they are not local. However, this means that I always buy too much to reasonably be eaten in a short amount of time, especially when you are still adjusting to a colostomy friendly diet like I am. Nuff said. This weekend I bought big fat juicy cherries, plums, blueberries and a nice fat pineapple. Of course I had forgotten that we are taking a roadtrip tomorrow an will be gone until next week. So today to stave off the summer chill, I decided to turn those cherries into some cherry cobbler. Cobbler is what I like to call lazy man's baking. It is fast, easy and forgiving to make. Recipes are mere guidelines and amounts are completely flexible, which is good when your hands are shaking from the cold and measuring is a challenge.
The only downside of this dish for me is that my cherry pitter (yes, Alton, I do have a uni-tasker) is in my drawer in Atlanta and the cherries and I are here. A quick, albeit messy, way to pit cherries by hand is to run your sharp paring knife around the edge of the cherry - through to the pit, then twist the cherry in half (much like you would pit an avocado) then scoop the pit out with your fingernail. I have long nails so this works brilliantly except for the fact that when I'm done, I look as though I have been slaughtering small animals bare handedly. The upside is that the Jehovah's witnesses don't stay long at the front door.
Cherry Cobbler
Filling:
Pitted fresh cherries - tart or sweet (about 4-6 cups or however much you have left after snacking)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
2-4 tsp corn starch
Cobbler topping:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
dash nutmeg
3 TBSP cold butter cut into chunks
1 beaten egg
1/2 tsp almond extract
3 TBSP milk
Method
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
For the filling, place cherries, sugar, water and cornstarch into a saucepan over low-medium heat and heat until liquid bubbles and cornstarch thickens the mix and cooks out. You can adjust the sugar and cornstarch according to the quantity of berries used and whether they are tart or sweet. Pour filling into an 8"x8" baking dish.
For the topping mix flour, sugars, baking powder and spices in a bowl. Cut in cold butter until it is coarse and crumbly. Beat egg with milk and almond extract and stir into flour mixture with a fork until just combined. Drop topping by spoonfuls onto top of cooled filling in baking dish. Bake at 400 degrees until topping gets golden brown - about 35-45 minutes. You may also want to put a baking sheet lined with foil on the rack beneath the cobbler in case the fruit filling bubbles over your dish.
I like so serve this warm with French vanilla ice cream scooped atop. It is also good with toasted almonds sprinkled atop.
So even if you are spending 'summer' on the prairies, you can still enjoy the flavors of summer even if you have to do it next to the fireplace like I am. Now I just have to figure out a way to eat 4 plums, a pint of blueberries and a pineapple before tomorrow afternoon's trip. I am open to ideas, people.
call us over and we help. :-)
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