Peach and Raspberry Cornmeal Cobbler

A friend recently brought me a carton of Ontario peaches, and a quick perusal of the interwebs told me that my gifted peaches wanted to share the limelight with some raspberries in this sunny cobbler.
Fruit desserts, like this one are perfect for summer when you want something quick and easy to use up seasonal produce. You can toss together the fruit with some sugar, starch and lemon juice, top with a quick and easy biscuit recipe and you've cobbled together (if you will) a bubbling pan of comfort food-y goodness without much effort but for a lot of payoff.
This recipe is best eaten fresh out of the oven with some vanilla ice cream or yogurt, so that the biscuit topping doesn't lose its magic when it is stored for a few days. That's not to say you can't reheat it, but there is nothing like a warm peach cobbler and the anticipation leading up to it, when it's fresh from the oven. Trust me on this, I speak no lies.



Cornmeal biscuits are everything that is good and wonderful about both biscuits and cornbread. The recipe results in a faintly sweet, lemon scented biscuit that is crispy on top, but so tender it's almost cake-like on the inside. Breaking into the biscuit-layer the crackly yellow topping parts to reveal a saucy peach -raspberry filling. Peaches and raspberries complement each other so well, its a classic pairing, like a peach melba kinda thing. The baked fruit turns pink and orange the colours blending together like a sunset under yellow cornmeal clouds.



Peach and Raspberry Cornmeal Cobbler

makes 8 servings
dairy

• 7 cups firm ripe peaches, pitted and peeled and sliced
• 1 cup raspberries
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon lemon juiceC

Cornmeal Topping

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup cold butter, cubed
• 2/3 cup milk

1. In a large bowl toss together peaches, raspberries, sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice: scrape into 8-inch square baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugar, lemon zest, baking powder, soda and salt. Using pastry blender cut in butter until crumbly. Drizzle with milk stirring t form a soft sticky dough. Drop topping by tablespoon onto peach mixture.
3. bake in 375 degree F oven until bubbly and biscuits are golden and no longer doughy underneath when lifted, about 50minutes to 1 hour.

adapted from: Canadian Living August 2009

Cornmeal and Whole Wheat Loaf

This quick hearty loaf is from the most recent issue of Canadian Living magazine. It caught my eye because I liked the idea of combining some different textured grains but wanted something that didn't require a lot of kneading or resting time. This loaf fits the bill perfectly and also happens to be good way to use up ingredients in your pantry. A bit of all-purpose flour, some wholewheat flour, wheat bran, and cornmeal combine to make a dense loaf with a slightly gritty texture from the cornmeal. This quick bread, lightly sweetened with honey, is versatile. I made it one evening as an accompaniment to a vegetable soup, but it is also wonderful toasted the next morning with butter and marmalade. I think this is one recipe that I will be revisiting a lot in my future.

Cornmeal and whole wheat loaf

Makes 1 loaf

Dairy, time: 20 minutes + 50 minutes baking time

• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup whole wheat flour
• ½ cup cornmeal
• 1/3 cup wheat bran
• ¼ cup packed brown sugar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 2/3 cup butter melted
• 3 tablespoons liquid honey
• 2 eggs

1. In a bowl, stir together all-purpose flour, whole whet flour, cornmeal, wheat germ, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt.
2. Stir together, buttermilk, butter, honey, and eggs, stir into flour mixture. Scrape into greased 8x4 inch loaf pan.
3. Bake in 350 degree F oven until cake tester inserted in centre comes out almost clean, about 50 minutes. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan, let cool on rack.

From: Canadian Living Magazine September 2010

Sweet Potato Bread with Golden Raisins

I had an overabundance of sweet potatoes sitting on my counter that I had neglected to use up. I originally intended to roast them but they were starting to get sprouty and impatient. Ugh I hate when vegetables sprout weird looking bits. Shudder. Anyways with my excess of sweet potato I decided I was going to try making a sweet potato yeast bread. Potatoes are often added to yeast breads because of the way the starch interacts with the yeast to create a very tender end result. But pureed sweet potatoes are another possible addition to yeast doughs, although I’m not sure they have quite the same effect on the texture of the bread. I haven’t made a yeast bread in a long time although they are one of my favourite things to bake, so I pulled out this recipe that’s been languishing in my untried recipe folder for a while. (yes, folders as in physical folders with real pockets. I’m old school )

This is a nice rustic feeling bread. It combines all of the very autumn flavours of sweet potatoes, brown sugar, cornmeal, raisins and citrus.

This bread is so beautiful and festive. It is a dark orange colour on the outside, but when sliced, reveals a golden yellow interior dotted with plumped golden raisins. It’s beautiful gold on gold.

The bread is slightly sweet, but with enough character to stand up to a savoury meal. It has a subtle sweet potato flavour that is brightened by the sharp taste of the raisins and the scent of citrus zest. This bread has a nubbly texture from the cornmeal in the batter. The cornmeal contributes to its rustic character and lends some yellow colour to augment the colour of the sweet potato puree. It is rich because of the addition of eggs to the batter (although there is no fat per se added to the batter) and the brown sugar used in the batter complements and brings out the caramel notes of the sweet potato.

The raw dough is slightly sticky but as long as you keep your hands liberally floured it doesn’t take much work as far as yeast raised breads go.

When baked, the bread smells like a cross between baked sweet potatoes and cornbread. This very rustic harvest bread has a tender close-crumb, and is crusty and chewy on the outside. This would be great for a thanksgiving type meal.

This tastes good with goat cheese, and I’ve also served it to sop up the gravy from a meat meal. It is good for breakfast toasted with honey and butter. But I really think this would be great with some melted brie and cranberry chutney as a Thanksgiving themed panini.

Sweet Potato Bread with Golden Raisins

Makes 2 loaves, about 2 8-inch rounds

No dairy involved!

Time: 4-5 hours including resting time

• 1 cup golden raisins
• 2 cups warm water
• 4-1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast (2 packages)
• ¼ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup sweet potato puree (homemade or canned)
• 1 tablespoon salt
• ½ cup yellow cornmeal
• 5-6 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• grated zest of 2 lemons

1. Place the raisins in a small bowl. Add ½ cup of the warm water and let stand until ready to use.
2. Sprinkle yeast in a large bowl. Add a pinch of the brown sugar and add remaining 1-1/2 cups of warm water. Stir just to mix. Then let stand 10 minutes or until bubbly.
3. Whisk eggs and sweet potato puree in a large bowl until smooth. Add it to the yeast mixture and whisk just until blended. Add remaining brown sugar, salt, cornmeal, 2 cups of the flour and lemon zest. Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add flour ½ cup at a time while beating with a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms. ( You may not need the entire amount of flour. The amount of flour needed will depend on the weather and the type of flour you use. Do not add too much flour or the bread may become tough and dry. You can incorporate more flour as you need the dough if necessary.)
4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl turning to coat and cover with a kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm draft free place until doubled in bulk, about 1 to 1-1/2 hours.
5. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Drain raisins, discard any remaining liquid, and pat dry with paper towels. Toss with 2 tablespoons flour to coat. Set aside.
6. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper (or oil and sprinkle lightly with cornmeal, parchment is easier) Gently deflate dough and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the raisins into the dough just enough to distribute throughout. (I like to flatten the dough a bit, press the raisins evenly over the surface and then roll it like a jelly roll and knead normally, but this is just an idiosyncratic technique I’ve made up)
7. Form dough into 2 rounds, each about 5 inches in diameter. Place loaves 2 inches apart on baking sheet. Cover with tea towel and let rise in a warm draft free place about 30 minutes. Use a sharp knife or razor blade to cut 3 or 4 3-inch slashes in the bread so that it can expand and rise as it bakes.
8. Place in centre of oven. Immediately lower oven temperature to 375 and bake 40-50 minutes or until loaves are lightly browned and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. (Note: Do not overbake or the bread will be dry. if you plan to freeze the bread underbake by about 5 minutes.) Remove from pan, place on wire racks. Let cool at least 30 minutes before slicing. Or, wrap in plastic wrap, place in Ziploc bag; freeze for up to 3 months.

Mary Egelbreit’s Home Companion Dec 2004/Jan 2005

I Sprained My Ankle and All I Got Was this Roasted Tomato and Goat Cheese Tart

First lets talk about this crust.


This crust is different from your typical quiche vessel, because it is enriched with the addition of cornmeal and held together with sour cream and ice water. The dough is fairly easy to work with, but you should work quickly it softens fast—although that could also be the intense heat this time of year.

I never use pie weights so I skipped that step, but my crust did puff and warp a bit during baking though it did go back to it’s regular shape by the time it was done . When this crust comes out of the oven it smells like fresh cornbread and the thyme in the pastry adds a savory aroma that is irresistible and I couldn’t wait to make the filling so I could eat it.


For the tart itself, caramelized onions and crumbled goat cheese are loaded into the pie shell. All of this is topped with a pretty arrangement of oven roasted cherry or grape tomatoes. And then the egg custard is poured into the crust and baked. Simple , n’est-ce-pas?

But beware! The eggs and cream mixture makes a lot more custard than you need for this tart. So only pour in as much of the eggy mixture as you need. I blindly poured all of the custard in and it dribbled over the crust and ran into the sides of my pie plate. Definitely eyeball this part. If it looks full, it is full no matter how much custard you have left.

I also ended up needing to bake this longer than the instructions stated. The filling would just not set in the centre. I ended up baking the tart at least 10 minutes longer than the recipe stated. Because of my overbaking, the edges of the crust got a little dark (though miraculously I did not manage to burn it) So make sure you do a better job than I did of covering your crusts with tin foil. In retrospect I think the melty/liquidy goat cheese was partly to blame for this quiche’s refusal to set in the centre. (But I also need a scapegoat)

Another facet of the roasted tomato tart saga is that while this was baking, I stupidly decided to change a light bulb, slipped off a chair, and sprained my ankle. So I was checking for doneness all while cursing the baking gods and my swollen ankle.

Sprained ankle notwithstanding, this tart tastes amazing! It is rich and creamy because of the goat cheese. The roasted tomatoes are fragrant and their acidity balances out the sweetness of the onions and the richness of the filling. All of this in a tender crust that is scented with thyme and has the pleasant grittiness of cornbread. Since even my mishaps couldn’t destroy this tart, I conclude that it must be fool-proof. I would definitely try this recipe again, being wary of this experience, because it was definitely worth having to apply ice for the next few days.

Roasted Tomato and Goat Cheese Tart

Makes one 9-inch quiche serves about 8

Dairy

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 onions, sliced
• ¾ cup crumbled goat cheese(about 3 oz)
• 3 eggs
• ½ cup milk1/4 cup 10% cream
• pinch each salt and pepper

Roasted grape (or cherry) tomatoes

• 1-1/2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary or thyme (I used ½ teaspoon each dried)
• ½ teaspoon salt

Cornmeal pastry

• 1-1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup cornmeal
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• ½ teaspoon each granulated sugar and salt
• ½ cup cold unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons sour cream
• 2 tablespoons ice water (approx)

1. Cornmeal Pastry: In bowl mix together flour, cornmeal, thyme, sugar, and salt. Using pastry blender cut in butter until in large crumbs. In a glass measure, whisk sour cream with water; drizzle over flour mixture, tossing with fork until dough comes together and adding up to 3 tablespoons more water if necessary. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour. (Make-ahead: refrigerate for up to 24 hours)
2. On a lightly floured surface roll out pastry to scant ¼-inch thickness; fit into a 9-inch quiche dish or pie plate. Fold edge under, leaving1/4 inch above rim; flute or crimp edges with fork. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Line pie shell with foil; fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake in bottom third of 400 degree F oven until rim is light golden, about 20 minutes. Remove weights and foil; bake for 10 minutes. Let cool on rack. (I skipped the foil and pie weights. The crust shrank a little but otherwise didn’t warp too much.)
4. Roasted grape tomatoes: In bowl, gently toss together tomatoes, oil, rosemary, and salt. Bake cut side up on parchment lined baking sheet in 350 degree F oven until tender, 20-25 minutes. Let cool.
5. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat; fry onions, stirring occasionally, until golden 15-20 minutes. Let cool.
6. Sprinkle goat cheese over pastry shell; spread with onions. Top with tomatoes, cut side up. In bowl, whisk eggs, milk, cream, salt and pepper; pour over top. Bake in 375 degree f oven until knife inserted in centre comes out clean, 35-40 minutes. Let cool on rack for 10 minutes. (make ahead: Let cool. Cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Reheat in 350 degree F oven for 20-25 minutes.)

Adapted From: Canadian Living Magazine December 2008