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Crazy Delicious Cobblers

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Summer is definitely beating down on me today and I am seriously craving for an old-fashioned dessert with ice cream. I guess no one really turns down a dessert with ice cream. Just one little spoonful is enough to break down those walls and it’s a done deal!

I was thinking of some fruit to go with ice cream and some pastry too! And what instantly came to mind was a cobbler! Gee, that just makes my mouth water right now and I can’t wait to hit the kitchen and get to it. A cobbler is … well now let’s see. It’s name is taken from which this baked dessert resembles a cobbled street in the pan. There are many variations of it, depending on where you’re from.

They are called the Betty, the Grunt, the Slump, the Buckle, the Sonker, and the Crisp. I don’t know if the finished baked dessert actually appears to be what they are named, but I trust there is something in there that earned them their titles. Okay, that’s certainly a lot to reckon with right now, but let’s stick to the essentials here.

In the deep south of the US, cobbler is made of any one fruit filling, topped with a pastry dough and baked. It is commonly served with vanilla ice cream. Now tell me, doesn’t that just sound heavenly?
I’ve scoured the virtual highway and my cookbooks in search of my one true cobbler. I don’t like anything too fancy, as I always enjoy an old-fashioned and timeless recipe.

You can try this recipe at home and you may just agree with me.

Old Style Blueberry Cobbler

Ingredients:

Dough
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut in bits
3/4 cup buttermilk
Filling
1 cup sugar
1 tsp grated lemon zest
2 Tbsp each lemon juice
2 cans blueberry pie filling (8 cups total)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

Place oven rack in lower third of oven. Heat to 450°F. Use a 13 x 9-in. baking dish or a shallow 3-qt baking dish.
Dough: Mix together flour, 1/4 cup sugar, the baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl until blended. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until coarse crumbs form. Refrigerate flour mixture and buttermilk separately until ready to top cobbler.
Filling: Stir in vanilla, lemon zest and lemon juice mixture with blueberry filling . Spread in baking dish.
Stir flour mixture and buttermilk with a fork until a biscuit-like dough forms. Drop eight 1/4-cupfuls, evenly spaced, over filling. Sprinkle biscuits with 2 Tbsp sugar.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until biscuits are golden and filling is bubbly. Cool in dish on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature with a scoops of vanilla ice cream or frozen yoghurt.

 

Photo Credit: jeffreyww

Photo Credit: perspicacious

Melting Cheese and Ham Parcel

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To get the crisp outer that you’re craving for on this dish, make sure that the oven is hot enough before you put anything in – turn the oven on at around 250C about an thirty minutes before you start to prepare anything, otherwise the pastry could be disappointingly soggy!

Ham and Cheese Pastry

To Serve 4
3tbsp Crème Fraiche
1tbsp Dijon Mustard
370g Packet Puff Pastry
350g Good Quality Ham, sliced
175g Gruyere Cheese, thinly sliced or grated
1 Egg Yolk, beaten
Sea Salt

1. Mix the Crème Fraiche and Dijon Mustard together well. Roll out a third of the Puff Pastry into a rectangle around thirty by twenty five centimetres, and place on a Baking Sheet.
2. Spread a third of the Mustard Mixture evenly across the pastry, leaving a centimetre border. Top with a layer of Ham, all of the Cheese, then another layer of Ham.
3. Spread the rest of the Mustard Mixture over the top of the Ham, then brush the Puff Pastry border with the Egg Yolk.
4. Roll out the rest of the Pastry to a rectangle around two or three centimetres larger than the base. Place over the filling, and press the edges firmly together, trimming any extras off if required.
5. Brush the top with Beaten Egg Yolk, and chill for fifteen minutes.
6. Cook the parcel at 220C for around twenty five minutes, or until the Pastry Base is cooked, and is Golden Brown. If it begins to burn around the edges, cover with some foil, then return to the heat.

Allow to stand for five minutes before sprinkling with Sea Salt, and serving with seasonal vegetables. You could also sprinkle some extra Cheese over the top five minutes before finishing in the oven, and leaving it to bubble and turn golden brown and crispy.

Photo Courtesy of: mrsdewinter

Vegetable Strudel

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Apple Strudel, a traditionally Sweet dish is given a re-vamp with this Savoury twist. A range of vegetables included in the dish transforms a personal favourite desert into this – great for a starter, main course, or as a snack.
Vegetable Strudel
It can be frozen once cooked, and then heated up, so it’s a good dish to have as a back-up in case you need something for short notice.

To Serve 6
150g Butter or Margarine
2tbsp Olive Oil
450g Waxy Potatoes (such as Maris Bard or Wilja), peeled and diced
450g Carrots, peeled and diced
225g Leeks, trimmed and sliced
1 small bunch Spring Onions
450g Spring Greens, thick stalks removed and shredded
1 Garlic Clove, peeled and crushed
1tbsp Lemon Juice
300ml Fromage Frais
Ground Mixed Spice
Salt and Pepper
4 Large Sheets Filo Pastry
75g Ground Almonds
Poppy Seeds

1. Melt a third of the Butter with half of the Olive Oil in a large saucepan, before adding the Potatoes, Carrots, Leeks and Spring Onions for four or five minutes stirring all the time. Add 125ml of Water, lower the heat, cover and cook gently for ten to fifteen minutes. Leave to cool.
2. Heat twenty five grams of the butter with the rest of the Oil in a large pan, add the Garlic and Greens, then stir fry for two or three minutes or until softened. Stir in the Lemon Juice, then leave to cool.
3. In the bowl of Potato and Leek, stir in the Fromage Frais, and season to taste with the Mixed Spice, Paprika and Salt and Pepper.
4. Melt the remaining Butter. Lay the sheets of Filo Pastry on a clean and dry work surface, and brush lightly with melted Butter. Lay a second sheet over the top to make a forty five centimetre square. Repeat with the remaining sheets to make a double-thick square, and sprinkle the Ground Almonds evenly over the Pastry.
5. Spoon half of the Potato mixture over a quarter of the Pastry, making sure you leave a border around the edge, then layer with the Greens, then the rest of the Potato mixture.
6. Fold the sides in, then roll the Strudel up like it was a Swiss Roll. Transfer to a baking sheet, with the final join at the bottom. Brush with melted Butter, and sprinkle with Poppy Seeds.
7. Bake in an oven at 200C, for around twenty to twenty five minutes, until Golden Brown. Leave to stand for five minutes before serving.

Photo Courtesy of: stu_spivack

Spicy Salmon Parcels with a Zesty Ginger Butter

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Salmon and Ginger Parcels

Serve with freshly cooked vegetables of your choice, this dish is relatively fast and easy to make, and also quite cheap as well – you’re looking at around £4 per portion, which is quite low for a dish with such varied flavours and textures in the dish – the soft, succulent flesh of the meat, and the crispness of the pastry.

To serve 4
50g Butter, at room temperature
2cm Fresh Root Ginger, Grated
Zest of ½ a Lemon
125g Frozen Filo Pastry
4 x 125g Salmon Fillets, Skinned
½ Red Chilli, Deseeded and Chopped
½ Green Chilli, Deseeded and Chopped

1. Mix half of the butter with the Ginger and Lemon Zest, then season well. Wrap in Clingfilm and shape into a sausage and chill until set – it should be around thirty minutes
2. Heat the oven to 200C and melt the remaining Butter in a small pan, and set aside.
3. Unroll the FIlo Pastry and cover with a clean, damp tea towel, and keep covered as much as possible. Brush with a small amount of the melted butter, and lay another sheet on top. Place the Salmon Fillet on top in the middle of the layers of Pastry, and season with a small amount of the Chillies and Black Pepper. Repeat with the other three Salmon Fillets
4. Unwrap the Ginger Butter, and slice into four equal rounds, and wrap the Pastry up to make a parcel. Transfer to a non-stick baking tray, and brush with the remaining Melted Butter.
5. Cook for fifteen to eighteen minutes, until Crisp and Golden.

Serve fresh from the oven, with a range of various seasonal vegetables.

Photo Courtesy of: Xelliex

Asparagus and Tuna Tart

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This stylish dish could be served as a main course, or in a smaller portion as a starter.

Tuna Steak

Tinned Tuna works okay, but make sure you drain it very well. The flavours of the Asparagus are beautiful, especially when in-season, around May to June time in Britain. Try to handle the pastry as little as possible in order to keep it as tender as possible, cutting with a very sharp knife.

To serve 6

500g Puff Pastry

375g Tuna Steak (or two tins)

400g Asparagus

125g Quark

1 egg

75ml Milk

1.       Heat the oven to 180 C or Gas Mark 4.

2.       Brush a large flat tin with a small amount of melted butter, and roll the Puff Pastry out to line the tin. Place the tin in the fridge to chill for ten minutes.

3.       Mix the Quark, Egg and Milk together, until smooth and well blended.

4.       Cut the Asparagus and Tuna into lengths that will fit across the width of the tin.

5.       Pour the mixed Quark, Egg and Milk in to the Puff Pastry case, and arrange the Tuna and Asparagus evenly across the tray.

6.       Place on a lower shelf, and bake for thirty minutes, before reducing the heat to 170 C (Gas Mark 3), and cook for ten more minutes.

7.       When cooked, remove from the oven, and stand for five to ten minutes to allow to cool (the juices in the Asparagus will be very hot), and serve with fresh salad leaves.

Photo Courtesy of Yandle