Our cookbook of the week is
Simply Julia
by Julia Turshen. Tomorrow, we’ll feature an interview with the author.
To try another recipe from the book, check out:
Breakfast nachos
and
red lentil soup dip
.
The flexibility of
Julia Turshen
‘s cobbler recipe lies right there in the title: any.
“You can use whatever frozen fruit you want in any combination,” says Turshen. “So it’s a great thing if you’re a household that makes a lot of smoothies or something like that, and you have a little bit of this left and some raspberries. It’s a good place to mix all that stuff and get something really delicious.”
Her cobbler is one-bowl baking at its best. Since you can combine the fruit directly in the baking dish itself, the bowl you use to make the topping is the only one you’ll need to wash.
Turshen continues to make this recipe frequently and appreciates the minimal cleanup. “I often find with baked goods, you end up with a million dirty bowls,” she says. “So I like that you don’t need to dirty many dishes to do it.”
Frozen fruit — picked and frozen at peak ripeness, already washed, peeled, pitted and chopped — is the star. Turshen deems it an incredibly versatile and valuable ingredient.
“I just love when something is more delicious but also easier,” she says, laughing. “I’m always looking for that. So I feel like I find that with frozen fruit in this recipe.”
When peaches or cherries fleetingly come into season where she lives, in New York’s Hudson Valley, she doesn’t necessarily gravitate towards baking them, preferring instead to celebrate their freshness.
“It’s rare to have that moment and get something like a really good peach, or a wonderful fresh cherry,” says Turshen. “Especially when you’re baking fruit and you want the texture to break down, like in a cobbler or pie, frozen fruit is so useful because it’s always there waiting for you.”
ANY FROZEN FRUT + CORNMEAL COBBLER
For the fruit filling:
2 lb (907 g) frozen fruit (for the top photo, I did my favourite — a mix of peaches, cherries and raspberries — but use whatever you like)
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp granulated sugar
For the cobbler topping:
3/4 cup (98 g) yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup (94 g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup (240 mL) half-and-half
3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
To serve:
Vanilla ice cream
Step 1
First, preheat your oven to 375ºF (190ºC).
Step 2
Prepare the fruit filling:
Place the frozen fruit, lemon juice, cornstarch and sugar in a 9-by-13-inch (23-by-33-cm) baking dish and mix well with your hands to combine.
Step 3
Make the cobbler topping:
Place cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and whisk well to combine. Stir in the half-and-half and melted butter.
Step 4
Evenly pour the batter over the fruit.
Step 5
Bake the cobbler until the topping is dark golden brown and the fruit is bubbling, about 45 minutes.
Step 6
Let the cobbler sit for at least 15 minutes before serving to allow the juices to settle. Serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream.
Serves:
8
Recipe and photo excerpted from the book
Simply Julia
by Julia Turshen. Copyright 2021 by Julia Turshen. Published by Harper Wave, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Reprinted by permission.
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2021