Now for the Cobbler

   I don’t have a definitive cobbler recipe. After determining that the birthday boy didn’t want a crisp, I went on the search for a good recipe. So then the question is do I do a pie crust topping or a biscuit topping? No help from the birthday boy, he said it would be difficult choice, surprise me.

   One of my favorite celebrity cooking people is Alton Brown. I love Good Eats. I watch reruns, I tape it, I check his website and blog, I buy his cookbooks based on the TV show even though all the recipes are available online. I am a fan. His 2^nd Good Eats volume: Good Eats 2, The Middle Years has a chapter on cobblers. Here’s what Alton has to say about the subject:

   “Cobblers are hands down my favorite dessert, a perfect marriage of fruit, spice, and dough ̶ not crust, but dough: brown and crisp on one side, moist and oozy on the other. Cobbler does not aspire to structural fussiness of pie. It’s down and dirty, primordial, and ever-so-slightly naughty. I have found myself in the wee hours of the morning, in the kitchen, in the dark, in my underwear, spoon in hand, eating cobbler. Cobbler knows no shame and cobbler keeps all secrets.” (Brown 283) Oh my. I know a few people who would be up late at night with this activity….

   So after Googling Marion Berry Cobbler recipes, I found an interesting one. It has a sweet biscuit topping that incorporates corn meal and adds a bit of brown sugar to the filling that produces a deeper sweetness. It also called for Dark Rum to be added to the berries. I chose to leave this out and used a teaspoon of vanilla instead. Cobbler is very simple and returns a satisfying dessert. Especially topped with vanilla ice cream.

Marion Berry Blues

   I asked my boyfriend what type of cake he would like for his birthday. He said his favorite cake is German Chocolate but he really would prefer a Marion berry cobbler. I make a really good German Chocolate cake but cobbler it would be.

   So now I needed Marion berries. I called a couple of local produce farms and asked if they had them in. Yes, I was told and then given the cost. Yipes, not cheap, $25.00 for a flat. Not that he’s not worth it but well, he is worth it. I just wanted to check around a bit more.

   What I didn’t know is the season is pretty much over. I have always thought Marion berries were like Blackberries, late summer fare. I found another produce farm that advertised online that they had Marion berries. I tried to call ahead but got no answer. It was near another appointment I had so I trotted out there. A very nice woman greeted me as I entered the store. I said “Do you have Marion berries?” and she said “Nope, season’s over.”

   “Well, when is the season?” I asked. “Mid-July” was the response. Oh, I explained my boyfriend’s request for his birthday. I am now imagining buying the really expensive ones out River Road or worse frozen expensive ones from the grocery store. Rats.

   The other woman working in the store says “well we can go out and look. Maybe there are some still out there.” So off we went to the Marion berry patch. From a short distance the plants looked pretty sad. However, as we approached the rows of Marion berries there were nice plump ripe ones; enough for 6 pints. Success is always sweet, especially when getting the late season berries.

Zucchini Monsters

   Summer has finally arrived in the Willamette Valley. After a long cold wet spring and an overcast June and July, August is shaping up to be nice. My friend and I do a community garden that gets started in March with potato, lettuce and pea planting. As the season progresses, we plant and plant and plant.

   It’s always challenging with the zucchini plants. 1 plant in a start pot would be plenty but they always seem to come in threes. We like to have a green one and a yellow one. Notice the word one. Well neither one of us is good at just planting one of each and then tossing the extras. We always worry that the cucumber beetles will have their way with the plants and hope one will survive. This year 4 plants got in the ground, 2 green, 2 yellow.

   The zucchini is coming on. Since Saturday we have harvested about 12 zucchinis plus I had 5 in my refrigerator from last week. And these plants are just getting started. They are covered in blossoms and there are many baby ones beginning their growth spurt into green and yellow whales if not plucked in time. Thus the zucchini recipes surface.

   I have recipes for Zucchini Crown Bread (a savory quick bread), zucchini fritters (a Williams-Sonoma recipe), Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes, Stuffed Zucchini (good use for the whale size), and last but not least the Silver Palate Cookbooks Zucchini Bread (which is baking in the oven as I write).

   Keeping in mind I got 13,500,000 hits on Google with a search for zucchini recipes, I found this website: http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2010/08/twenty-zucchini-recipes-for-sneak-some.html

   This site claims that August 8 is Sneak Some Zucchini on to Your Neighbor's Porch Day. Plus there are 20 recipes for zucchini. So sneak some zucchini around and check out the recipes and I will enjoy the first but not last Zucchini bread of the year.