A Simple Scrumptious Strawberry Cobbler

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...The last flush of berries is making its way to farmers' markets in our area. Because I've published so few recipes for desserts and sweet breads this summer, I wanted to close out the season with a raft of berry rich recipes that are guaranteed to satisfy your sweet tooth. The cobbler I'm featuring tonight is fast and simple to make, but it is a bit unique. There are not a lot of recipes for strawberry cobbler on the Internet, so this one caught my eye when I stumbled on it. The recipe comes from the blog Vegetable Matter and when I saw it I knew I had to give it a try. I'm so glad I did. The cobbler is sweet, but not cloying and it is the perfect way to end a summer meal. The only change I made to the original recipe was to add a tablespoon of orange liqueur to the filling. I wanted to make the orange flavor a bit more pronounced and the liqueur was the easiest way to do that. This cobbler is best served warm. While it is wonderful with a small scoop of ice cream, I prefer to serve it with a dollop of creme fraiche. The nutty and slightly tangy flavor of the cream is a perfect foil for the sweetness of the berries. I really like this recipe and I'll be making the cobbler whenever an abundance of strawberries finds its way to my kitchen. I hope you will give this recipe a try. You will not be disappointed. Here is how the cobbler is made.

Strawberry Cobbler...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of the blog Vegetable Matter

Ingredients:
Filling
6 cups strawberries, washed and sliced
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
Biscuit Topping
1-1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar, plus more for top
4 tablespoons butter, cubed and cold
1 cup heavy cream
8" pyrex baking dish or similar oven-proof glass dish

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray an 8-inch pan with nonstick spray.
2) To make filling: Combine strawberries, sugar and orange zest in a bowl. Transfer filling to prepared baking dish.
3) To make topping: Combine flour, salt, baking powder and 2 tablespoons sugar in a bowl. Cut in butter to resemble coarse meal. Add cream and mix until uniformly moist. Spoon out on top of filling. It should be plopped on in clumps. You don't want a perfectly smooth topping. Sprinkle with granulated sugar for some sparkle.
4) Bake until biscuit is golden brown and filling is cooking and bubbling. Let cool enough for juices to thicken, then served warm by itself or with whipped cream or creme fraiche. Yield: 8 servings.

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Tomato Cobbler

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...For all the cooking I've done, this was the first summer I've ever made a tomato cobbler. I'm not sure why. I love roasted tomatoes and I love cobblers, but I just never thought to combine the two. At any rate, two recipes for this dish crossed my path at approximately the same time. One came from the the test kitchens of Martha Stewart, the other came from the very capable hands of Mark Bittman. I've made both recipes and they are quite similar to each other, save for the topping. The Stewart recipe uses luscious cream biscuits to top her cobbler, while Bittman uses a flavorful cornbread to finish his. Both cobblers are delicious and I decided to feature the one from Martha Stewart Living only because it is the more photogenic of the two. Tomatoes are the real star of this dish, and when cherry or grape tomatoes are roasted, they have a lovely sweet taste that is truly memorable and quite different than that of their larger cousins. They literally burst in your mouth, flooding it with flavor. You'll need time to pull this dish together, but I promise you won't regret a moment you spend making the cobbler. It comes very close to making my socks go up and down. Tomatoes are flooding markets right now, and if you are looking for new ways to prepare them, I highly recommend this recipe. If you are a fan of tomatoes I know you will love this dish. It can be used as a hearty side dish or light main course. Here's the recipe.

Tomato Cobbler...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Martha Stewart

Ingredients:
Filling
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 pounds cherry or grape tomatoes
1 tablespoon fresh chopped basil
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
Topping
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Coarse salt
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup grated Gruyere cheese (2 1/4 ounces), plus 1 tablespoon, for sprinkling
1-1/2 cups heavy cream, plus more for brushing


Directions:
1) To make filling: Heat oil in a large high-sided skillet over medium heat. Cook onions, stirring occasionally, until caramelized, about 25 minutes. Add garlic, and cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Let cool. Toss onion mixture, tomatoes, basil, flour, and red-pepper flakes with 1-1/2 teaspoons salt and some pepper.
2) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
3) To make biscuit topping: Whisk together flour, baking powder, and 1 teaspoon salt in a bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter or rub in with your fingers until small clumps form. Stir in cheese, then add cream, stirring with a fork to combine until dough forms. (Dough will be slightly sticky.)
4) Transfer tomato mixture to a 2-quart baking dish (2 inches deep). Spoon 7 clumps of biscuit dough (about 1/2 cup each) over top in a circle, leaving center open. Brush dough with cream, and sprinkle with remaining tablespoon cheese. Bake until tomatoes are bubbling in the center and biscuits are golden brown, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack. Let cool for 20 minutes. Yield: 6 to 8 servings.








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Blackberry Cobbler

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This recipe is one that everyone claims to be their own. It's often called shiny topped cobbler and I first found it called by that name in The Pittsburgh Post Gazette. It then moved uptown for an appearance in Wine Country Living where it had become Mixed Berry Cobbler, a dessert considered to be worthy of ending a holiday feast. Whatever you call it, I can assure you it is really, really good and amazingly easy to do. Follow directions to a tee, even when they seem counterintuitive, and you'll have no problems. Contrary to popular belief, you may use fresh or frozen fruit to make the cobbler and you are not limited to berries. Any soft fruit may be used. If you don't have this recipe, let me assure you it's a treasure to have on hand when seasonal fruits ripen. If you do have the recipe, consider this a reminder of how very good this cobbler is.

Blackberry Cobbler...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
For the filling:
5 cups whole berries
2 cups flour
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup melted butter
For the topping:
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup boiling water

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat bottom and sides of a 9- by 13-inch baking dish with nonstick spray. Make an even layer of berries in the bottom of the dish.
2) Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, milk and butter and blend into a batter. Spread batter evenly over the fruit. The batter will be thick.
3) Mix sugar, salt and cornstarch together and sprinkle over batter. Pour boiling water evenly over the sugar and cornstarch mixture. Do not mix.
4) Place baking dish in hot oven. Bake for one hour. For an extra-crusty top, switch the oven from baking to broiling at the end of cooking time and finish cobbler with a minute or so under the broiler.
6) Serve in shallow bowls with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. Yield: 8 servings.Makes 8 servings