Today was all about food. Our plan was to begin with a great diner breakfast at Jim’s Open Kitchen (checkout fellow Cleveland food blogger Nancy Heller’s post about Jim’s and you’ll see why we love it!) and then explore The Mustard Seed Market for a few specialty items before hitting the discount grocer for the regular stuff.
We had a lot on our food agenda today: I wanted to test a recipe for “pouched” salmon that I’m going to demonstrate on Fox 8′s That’s Life with Robin Swoboda in a few weeks (more on that in another post); Renée wanted to make some roasted beets to go along with my salmon dish as well as put together an eggplant Parmesan for later in the week; and I felt like making a rhubarb and peach cobbler. Oh, and I also bought a small roaster chicken to de-bone because I needed to make some poultry stock.
I knew the salmon wouldn’t take long, but I also knew I had to time everything right because of the different things that would need to go in the oven. Renée’s beets wanted to be at 275 for two hours, but my chicken bones were going to be roasting at 350. The cobbler needed to go at 375, and my stock, although starting on the cook top where Renée was going to be frying the eggplant, needed to be at 180. I also wanted to test the salmon with one piece going in the microwave and the other going in the oven at 425. I should have taken some pics of the kitchen, because it felt pretty commercial with all that prep and cooking going on! I did take some of the cobbler, so here’s what I made:
- 9 1/2 ounces all purpose flour, approximately 2 cups
- 1 ounce sugar, approximately 2 tablespoons, plus 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated lime zest
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus 1/4 teaspoon
- 4 1/2 ounces unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces, plus extra for dish
- 1 1/2 ounces lard, chilled and cut into small pieces
- 1 1/2 ounces ice water, approximately 3 tablespoons
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 pound rhubarb, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
- 1 pound sliced peaches, peel on and sliced into 1/2 to 1-inch pieces
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
The flour, 1 oz sugar, lime zest, and teaspoon of salt go in a food processor and get pulsed 3 to 4 times. The butter and lard (I used shortening) are added and pulsed until the mixture just becomes crumbly and starts to climb up the side of the work bowl. Add the ice water a little at a time and process just until the dough holds together when squeezed in a ball. Then place the dough into a 1 gallon zip top bag, form into a disk, and place it into the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
The filling consists of 1 cup of sugar, cornstarch, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt stirred with the rhubarb, peaches, and lime juice.
One third the dough gets pinched into pieces and distributed evenly in the bottom of a buttered 9×9 or 8×8 baking dish.
The remaining dough gets rolled out to a sheet large enough to cover the top of the dish. Pour the fruit mixture into the dish and top with the dough pressing the dough into the corners. Bake, uncovered, for 60 minutes or until the dough is cooked through and starting to turn golden.
If you want it a little more golden brown, put it under your broiler for about 3 minutes. Be sure to let it stand for 15 to 30 minutes before serving. Great with a scoop of good vanilla ice cream! Sweet, tart, gooey, and crunchy all at the same time!
As for the rest, the salmon was a winner, the beets were terrific, the eggplant is in the fridge, and the stock is still in the oven.
Just a typical Sunday in the kitchen!
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This dessert took me back to the days when my dad would make a rhubarb pie for me for my birthday. Love it! (And the peaches were the perfect complement, I don’t really like overly sweet strawberries cutting the pucker of my rhubarb.)
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